A Collections Roundtable held quarterly for CU*Answers clients at their Grand Rapids location had a speaker from the US Secret Service in their March session. This was a huge opportunity for the Roundtable, which is CU*Answers most attended open forum, to have such a prestigious speaker. The hope was to get a handle on what the trends are causing losses and collection issues in general  and to give the CU*Answers’ client base of over 170 Credit Unions across the nation, a path to follow should something happen.

We were not disappointed. Kim Cheatle the head of the Grand Rapids office delivered a resounding class on fraud in currency, checks, credit cards, and wire transfers. Many people are not aware that the Secret Service is part of the treasury and therefore is capable and trained in financial issues and fraud prevention. “This was even more than we were hoping for considering their busy schedule,” exclaimed Jerry Collins the organizer of the Roundtable. “We were greatly impressed at the value of the presentation and knowledgeable details that were expressed. We would like to see this happen every few years to keep our clients up on their fraud prevention tactics to prevent collection issues. It’s good to know that our clients have another avenue available if they need help that local authorities do not have resources to conduct.”