Posted by Lisa Hochgraf
I read this blog post recently, suggesting that consumers should call their financial institutions and opt out of all direct mail marketing offers, especially direct mail that contains promotional or convenience checks. The poster, Tom Fraglia Fragala, CEO of identity theft prevention company Truston, explained that he had twice been a victim of ID theft when such checks were stolen from his mailbox.
It made me consider the balancing point between promotion and the protection of members' identities. Would it be better to skip sending checks that a member doesn't know he's getting (and therefore can't watch for in the mail) in favor of avoiding the bad PR when a few members' identities get stolen? Or is the payback of sending such checks so high to financial institutions that it's worth the risk? What's your thought?
Lisa Hochgraf is marketing/operations editor for CUES' Credit Union Management magazine and edits the CUES Tech Port e-newsletter, News to Go.
