You are currently browsing the Midwest Financial: Midwest Financial Blog blog archives for March, 2010.
The tax filing deadline, April 15th, is rapidly approaching. MidWest Financial is starting this Tax Filing blog series to help you with the process. Our first topic is about common mistakes which, according to IRS, people often make filling their taxes. All of them are very simple, but do happen and can delay the processing of your tax return. The IRS wants you to be aware of and avoid these annoying mistakes:
Visit the IRS website for more tips on filing your 2009 taxes. Don’t forget that all MidWest Financial Credit Union members are eligible for an extra discount on filing your taxes with TurboTax Online. In order to get this discount use the TurboTax Online link on our homepage.
Source: www.irs.gov
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As we celebrate Doctors’ Day on Tuesday, March 30, the staff at MidWest Financial thanks all Doctors for the job you do everyday!
Doctors’ Day, you ask? Yes! Officially proclaimed in 1991, its origins stretch back 77 years: The first Doctor’s Day was celebrated in Winder, Georgia, on March 30, 1933—the anniversary of the first use of general anesthesia in surgery in 1842. It is the brain child of Eudora Brown Almond, who wanted a way to recognize the contributions of physicians who serve our country by caring for its citizens. Traditionally, it is a day to send greeting cards and lay flowers on the graves of physicians. And over the years the red carnation has been adopted as a symbol for the day, signifying the qualities of sacrifice, charity, courage, bravery, and love. It is a day that is not yet widely celebrated here in Southeast Michigan, but one we at MidWest Financial recognize. So to all of the Doctors out there, Thank You! |
Nearly 73 percent of Web surfers use their online banking password for other Web sites, according to a recent study by security firm Trusteer. Apparently, most of us are choosing convenience over security.
Why is using the same password on multiple sites unsafe? First and foremost, hacking becomes a lot easier. Your password is only as strong as the weakest site on which you use it. If someone hacks a smaller site and gains access to your password, there’s a good chance that same password will work for them on one of the major banking Web sites.
That’s not to say your password is the only thing that stands between a criminal and your account—MidWest Financial uses other security technology in addition to passwords, including the multi-factor authentication which consists of your selected image and phrase as well as security questions. But why take unnecessary chances?
If creating a unique user/password combination for all of the sites you access seems daunting, try maintaining 3 “families” of passwords instead—one for critical financial sites, a second for sites that store your personal info (i.e. Facebook, email sites, etc.), and a third for generic logins. A good password is at least eight characters long, using letters (upper and lower case) numbers and symbols.
Source: Bob Sullivan, The Red Tape Chronicles
Time to take a moment to toot our own horn—credit unions are pummeling the banks in a consumer satisfaction contest! We’re really not surprised, but here are the details:
The American Consumer Satisfaction Index, an annual University of Michigan project, shows that credit unions held steady their 2008 ranking of 84 out of 100 in 2009. By contrast, the big banks—Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, etc.—have fallen to an industry low of 67. That’s an 8% drop from 2008.
The latest Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index, which measures consumer trust as opposed to satisfaction, showed similar results. Credit unions had a 58% approval rating, compared with a 31% approval rating of national banks and 53% of local banks.
Well, credit unions are the choice of more than 91,000 people in the U.S. And of course, we would be nothing without you. Thank you for choosing us and placing your trust in us!
