Key Dates

March 10
Delivery date of materials for Bill Pay with Visa promotion.

March 20
VAA replaces VIFD for OneBridge clients.

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Quick Fact
A major new study has revealed that an increasing number of consumers are making debit cards their primary payment card. The study, conducted by the American Bankers Association and Boston-based Dove Consulting, found that on the net, 7% of consumer who use debit cards expect their use of credit cards to decrease over the next two years.

- cardweb.com

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Client Corner
Congratulations to Heritage Federal Credit Union in Newburgh, Indiana! They opened a new branch in late February 2006. The new branch is a full-service facility and is their seventh branch in total.

If you've seen the new commercials, you can probably tell what the new message is about - empowerment. It celebrates active participation in life and highlights ways people experience it to the fullest. (Click here to see ads from "Visa Takes Life.")

In the first three months of the campaign, Visa expects to generate more than 4 billion consumer impressions through national broadcast, magazines and newspapers, high-traffic websites, public transit media and billboards.

"'Life Takes Visa' will drive growth for Visa and our members by encouraging cardholders and merchants to explore and embrace the many ways, reasons and places to pay with Visa while strengthening the emotional connection that cardholders have with our brand," said Susanne Lyons, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Visa USA. The new tagline, brand mark, and card design "are flexible enough to speak to all aspects of our business - debit, prepaid, commercial, contactless, mobile payment - and those  products and services we haven't even dreamed about. It works for consumers and small business audiences alike."

Card Smarts
Tips and tidbits to help you get the most out of your card programs.

Contact Bill Crouch at 317-275-5810 for information about how OneBridge can help you
measure and enhance your card programs.

A Multi-Layered Fraud Defense Can Help You Minimize Your Risk

You've heard it at just about every fraud-related conference, presentation, and webinar you've attended - The best defense for minimizing risk is to implement a multi-layered fraud strategy.

But, what exactly is a "multi-layered fraud strategy?"

A "multi-layered fraud strategy" incorporates a variety of measures, both procedural and system-based, that will help prevent fraud from occuring and will assist you in combating it when it does. Listed below are five core parts of a "multi-layered fraud strategy":

• Educate cardholders about how to identify and report fraud.
  This means putting reminders in your newsletter, in statements, and on your website about the importance of monitoring account activity; it means making sure cardholders know the phone numbers for blocking cards and reporting fraud; and it means warning cardholders about giving their account information to anyone.
• Remove barriers to blocking cards.
  Cardholders may have difficulty blocking lost or stolen cards on your phone banking system because they are required to know their card number. With an enhanced reporting tool, the cardholder can use other points of identification to block their card.
• Utilize filters to block suspicious transactions.
  If you notice a pattern of fraud that is coming from a certain location or for a certain amount, set up a filter to decline future transactions from that place or for that amount. 
• Implement Name Matching.
  Name matching automatically declines transactions if the name passed in the authorization request doesn't match the name on file for that card at OneBridge.
• Review VIFD/VAA alerts.
  If you recieve a fraud alert, make sure to view the report and follow up with the cardholder.

A multi-layered approach that contains all or most of these items will help you minimize your risk when it comes to card fraud. For more information about any of these items or about fraud in general, please contact OneBridge.

VAA Replaces VIFD in March

Visa sent a notification late last week regarding the official replacement of VIFD (Visa Issuer Fraud Detection) with VAA (Visa Advanced Authorization). Their deadline for this conversion is March 27, 2006. This means that by March 27 you will no longer receive VIFD alerts and scores, but will instead receive VAA alerts and scores.

OneBridge has been preparing for this conversion for over a year. We have been capturing and analyzing VAA scores as well as working with Visa to determine thresholds for the scores.

Client Service will be contacting clients in the next week to discuss the details of each institution's specific migration and how they will be impacted by the change. OneBridge plans to have all clients converted by March 20, 2006.

In-house Message of Interest to Industry Press

In the last month, OneBridge has seen a surge in the number of industry-related publications printing information about our "in-house card program" message. Between the announcement of a new client, Touchstone FCU, in late January and the introduction of Dispute Agent in mid-February, OneBridge has made headlines in the Credit Union Times, the Credit Union Journal, and CUNA News Now.

"In the last five or six years there has been a lot of hype about institutions selling their card portfolios," said OneBridge CEO David Becker. "But I think that mentality is changing. Institutions recognize that their card programs are valuable, and they are looking for alternatives that will help them take advantage of that value. OneBridge's message speaks directly to that."

Industry Update
Below are interesting stories about the card industry that have made headlines over the last few weeks. Links to the full articles are included below.

To access any Card Forum articles you will need to register with Card Forum. Card Forum is a great tool that provides free access to valuable card information and articles. To register, just follow the directions when you click the link.

• Thin-file and no-file Americans, traditionally marginalized or shut out of the credit system because of a lack of information about their credit histories, are now in an unusual role. They are in demand. It is a reversal that has the makings of an "American Idol-esque" story: former unknowns courted for their potential "star" power.
  (click for full article "Scoring the Underserved")
  - Card Forum

• The FBI has expanded its investigation into a debit card fraud that has mostly affected 200,000 consumers in the Western United States, saying that the case might be linked to other debit card thefts around the country.
  (click for full article "FBI Widens Probe of Debit-Card Theft")
  - ZDNet

• In the struggle to prevent fraudsters from turning stolen credit cards into cash online - a $2.8 billion problem last year - retailers are the country's last best defense.
  (click for full article"Choke Point")
  - CSO