Debit Card Resources

Monitoring Your Accounts As a Result of Debit Card Breach Risk

It is important to be proactive and monitor your bank accounts after you become aware of a debit card breach. Debit card data can become compromised in a variety of ways, and most often it is a result of a retailer being hacked. At First Secure State Banks, we work closely with our debit card issuer and MasterCard to respond and swiftly mitigate risk to our debit card customers from experiencing fraud on their accounts that may have become compromised due to debit card breaches. We ensure the highest level of security to protect your information. When we learn of debit card breaches, the following procedures are advisable if you think your card is at risk:

• Always Monitor your Accounts. It is always a best practice to use online banking, mobile banking or monthly statements to monitor your accounts for unauthorized transactions. Customers should report ANY unauthorized account activity to the bank immediately.
• Debit Card Replacement. We are dedicated to protecting our customers' accounts and personal information. If you know or feel you have been part of a breach, and would like a new card number, take immediate action and contact First Secure State Banks at 815-728-8645 or if you believe your debit card is lost or stolen, immediately contact 815-728-8645 and a new debit card will be reissued to you.
• Enroll in MasterCard SecureCode. MasterCard SecureCode — an online security service to guard you against unauthorized use of your MasterCard card while shopping online at participating merchants. There is no need to get a new card, no software to download, no cost, and no hassles... just added security. Once enrolled in this service, you'll have added confidence knowing that MasterCard SecureCode performs an extra authentication step to protect your account from unauthorized users online. Click here to enroll in MasterCard Identity Check. 
• Enroll in Account Alerts: When you sign up for online banking and mobile banking, you avail yourself to additional protections to monitor your account daily for suspicious activity. You can sign up for texts or email alerts for activity or balance thresholds. It is important you take charge of flagging your account for activity that may fall outside of your normal activity.

Our debit card customers can be assured that sophisticated fraud-detection systems continually monitor card activity, and attempt to identify unusual and potentially unauthorized transactions. While the systems in place may not detect all fraud, we will contact any cardholder we determine may be at risk of unauthorized transactions. In addition to our normal monitoring, we will increase the security monitoring on the SPECIFIC CARDS that are compromised as soon we are notified of a breach. Reminder: It is always important to have a secondary source of payment to allow yourself access to your money in case your card is deactivated due to a breach. You may also want to carry cash, checkbook or a single check in your wallet for those important transactions. An additional option is to set up a debit card on a secondary account at our bank that is not your primary account. This will help to ensure your continued purchasing power when needed.

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