Consumer affairs

by Robert McGarvey

I don’t recall the first time I wrote up a warning against using public Wi-Fi when traveling – and that means hotel, airport, restaurant, public transportation (subways, busses) coffee shop, even inflight Wi-Fi. Probably 10 years ago. Maybe longer.

And yet public Wi-Fi sites multiply – one count finds over a half billion globally. That’s because we use it. One survey found 18% of respondents use it more than once a day.

Definitely, too, usage is upped among travelers. When I ask people if they would use the public Wi-Fi up the street from their home the reaction displays similar enthusiasm to what I’d get if I asked their willingness to use a public toilet in the Covid-19 era. But those very same people, when asked, acknowledge they do use public Wi-fi when they travel because “what are my better options?”

We’ll answer that question momentarily – you do have a better option – but, first, understand I now have a heavyweight that is issuing the same stern warnings about public Wi-Fi as I have been. That’s the NSA – aka National Security Agency aka the Puzzle Palace — which now has broken its cover to warn about public Wi-Fi and the risks it poses to us and our employers.

In a recent information sheet, NSA pulls no punches: “Avoid connecting to public Wi-Fi, when possible, as there is an increased risk when using public Wi-Fi networks…. If users choose to connect to public Wi-Fi, they must take precautions. Data sent over public Wi-Fi—especially open public Wi-Fi that does not require a password to access—
is vulnerable to theft or manipulation.”

What that says – put in simple terms – is don’t use public Wi-Fi because whatever data you enter is easy pickins for savvy cyber criminals.

Sure, if you want to grab a baseball score from ESPN, or a stock quote, by all means use public Wi-Fi if that’s easy. It probably doesn’t matter. But if what you want to do is send business email or access files on your company’s server or even research prospects on LinkedIn, the strong advice is don’t use public Wi-Fi.

There are thousands of white papers online documenting how hackers hack public Wi-Fi. For them it is rather straightforward. There even are automated tools to speed up the process for the inexpert hackers.

NSA elaborates: “Accessing public Wi-Fi hotspots may be convenient to catch up on work or check email, but public Wi-Fi is often not configured securely. Using these networks may make users’ data and devices more vulnerable to compromise, as cyber actors employ malicious access points, redirect to malicious websites, inject malicious
proxies, and eavesdrop on network traffic.”

What the NSA is saying is that when you are using public Wi-Fi you are a fish in a transparent fish bowl and the hackers’ eyes are on your every keystroke. The password to your employer’s server – it’s theirs. The login to your email – it’s theirs. The login to your bank account – yep, that’s theirs too.

All because you took what seemed the easy – and free! – access lane onto the Internet Superhighway and that is what public Wi-Fi is for many millions of us.

What if public Wi-Fi truly is your best option? Here’s NSA’s advice: “If connecting to a public Wi-Fi network, NSA strongly advises using a personal or corporate-provided virtual private network (VPN) to encrypt the traffic.”

Not all VPNs are good. Not all are even trustworthy. Choose a VPN cautiously. Here’s a list of recommended providers from TechRadar. Here’s CNET’s list.

Won’t a VPN slow your speed? Probably, at least a little. But that is a price worth paying for the enhanced security a good VPN provides.

Even with a VPN in place NSA’s “don’t’s list” includes these about public Wi-Fi: *Do not enter most sensitive account
passwords on sites/applications. *Avoid accessing personal data (e.g., bank accounts, medical, etc.).

That’s good, cautious advice.

Either way, if you really insist on using public Wi-Fi, do it with a VPN. You don’t have guaranteed safety. But you are pretty secure.

Personally, however, I still prefer to use my cellphone to create a hotspot that I connect an iPad or laptop to. The security is quite good.

Alternatively, since I use a Google Pixel phone on Google FI network, an option I have set up is to use a Google VPN when surfing via Wi-Fi. I use that feature often.

This is the reality: safer surfing is yours if you want it.

But with all the cyber criminals out there, just do something to stay safe.

By Robert McGarvey

 She’s smart. She has around 20 years experience at Inclusiv, the association for community development financial institutions and its predecessor organization. And she has put a lot of attention on African American Credit Unions.  Will they survive? Does it matter?

Meet Pamela Owens, a SVP at Inclusiv and she comes with a lot to tell us.

As for African American credit unions, they will survive and, yes, it definitely matters, says Owens in this podcast.  She tells why.

She also gives a grade for credit union industry efforts regards Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts (and know she is not an easy grader).

Along the way we talk about progress African Americans have made in regard to credit union employment – and the progress they need to make in regard to C-suite employment.

Credit unions, unlike banks, are birthed with a moral reason for their existence. Banks exist to profit their shareholders.  Credit unions – especially CDFIs – exist to bring financial services to the underserved and that is indeed a reason to get up in the morning.

If you want to feel good about being in the credit union industry this is the podcast you want to listen.  Of course you will also get some to-do’s – but this is work that isn’t going to be finished soon.  

Listen up.

 Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

By Robert McGarvey

As sure as we are now – in fits and starts – getting back on the road, scammers, flimflam artists, and thieves are right behind us and now they have an edge because many of us have lost our instincts when it comes to being suspicious of what might be criminal activity.

Eighteen months ago most of us would have have spotted a travel related scam before it bit us but now we are fresh innocents and you can bet the hucksters are hungry for our dough.

Matters are so sinister that the Better Business Bureau has rushed out a warning headlined: BBB Scam Alert: Beware of hotel scams.

Time for a refresher on road smarts.

Phishing.  Enormously popular with criminals today is telephone phishing where, usually, the scam is that “this is the front desk, there’s a problem with your credit card, could you give us the number again?”  Often the call comes in fairly late at night so you may be drowsy too and in PJs.  Give over the number and expiration date and, oh, will you verify the spelling of your name?  And that will present the criminal with a credit card that can put to immediate use buying gift cards and other cash equivalents.

The antidote: No matter how late at night it is, say you will be down to the front desk in a few minutes and hang up.  At this point you have three options: Do nothing whatsoever, just assume the call was a scam. Or actually go down to the desk and don’t be surprised if the staff has no clue about this issue with your card. Or call the front desk and ask, is there a question about my credit card?

Food Scams.  This actually is a new one on me but it makes perfect sense.  The BBB explains how it works: “Make sure the menus left in the hotel room are authentic…. Scammers will distribute fake menus to rooms with phone numbers that connect the caller to them instead of the hotel or a real business. They will collect the callers credit card information over the phone then never deliver food.”

I salute the cleverness of the criminals.  Make up a flyer, insert fake quotes (“the best pastrami in Phoenix,” Pete Wells NYTimes), and for sure calls will come in.

Word of caution: before ordering with a restaurant unknown to you, check Yelp to see if it in fact exists. While you are at it, skim the reviews.  I personally find Yelp of hit or miss utility – but it will definitely help you detect a restaurant that does not really exist. And you may even get some useful insights about the joint’s quality or lack.  (Hint: there is no great pastrami in Phoenix. The nearest is Langer’s in LA.)

Fake WiFi: They are called “rogue access points” and what this refers to are WiFi networks with names like “Free + Fast WiFi” or “Your Hotel’s Best WiFi.”  The problem is that a tech savvy criminal can spend maybe $100 and create a WiFi hotspot that exists mainly to collect personal information from users, possibly to download malware to their computers.

This is very bad and, as I said, it is also very cheap for the crook to perpetrate.  It often surfaces at meetings, convention centers, airports and, definitely, hotels especially public areas.  How to detect it? Usually it is very slow but, hey, isn’t that the norm for hotel WiFi even when we are paying to access it?

My advice is this: don’t use hotel WiFi or airport Wifi at all.  Ever. I use a hotspot that I create with my phone. (In Android, go to SETTINGS/Network and Internet/Hotspot. Similar works on iPhone)  It takes literally seconds to create, in most cases its speed is comparable to that of a hotel network (sometimes faster), and, yeah, in many cell plans you will pay a few bucks for data in a two hour session but that is money well spent if it keeps you out of the clutches of these cyber criminals.

This all sounds simple? It is. But criminals also know we are out of training and no longer instantly see risks when before we would have.  

Just remember: they are out to grab your money and if we have lost our cautions we are easy prey.  Stay alert, stay safe, safe travels. 

by Robert McGarvey

Go to the website for Otomo and here’s what jumps out at you: “Be the money platform people love. Turn any account holder into an avid user with autonomous personal money management.”

Read it again.

What Otomo is about is a revolution in our digital money management and here is a fact: on a fundamental level, online and mobile banking are not substantially different from what debuted in the mid 1990s.  

Another fact: PFMs are not significantly more engaging than they were when they were introduced a generation ago.

Otomo’s plan is to revolutionize all of that.

To rethink how we bank.

And, yes, to make it all much more engaging – and fun! – than we are accustomed to.

On its LinkedIn page, Otomo says about itself: “Picture a world where your money knows where to go as soon as it hits your bank account, organizing itself in real-time. Sounds like something out of Blade Runner? It’s not. “Otomo is delivering on banking’s ultimate promise of hyper-personalized cash management tools today. We deliver our service directly through your favorite financial institution or money app. In other words, you’ll quickly be able to offer smart banking that can provide engaging, long-lasting, and meaningful experiences to your customers.”
Ready to hear more about the Otomo revolution? In this podcast you will hear at length from Khellar Crawford, CEO and co-founder of Otomo and you will also hear why he founded it and why your credit union just may wat to explore deploying it to your members.
Face it? Members increasingly want more from their digital banking experience than they are getting.  Otomo just may be what they are hunting.
Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

by Robert McGarvey

Know that I am a travel bag cheapskate. I doubt I have spent over $1000 on luggage in a lifetime of travels. For the past eight years I have relied on a carryon Travelpro rollaboard that cost $85 and it has been a reliable companion but now as new travel looms I had to admit it had gotten shabby.

I had also grown annoyed with the clatter of the aging wheels and a propensity of the rolling bag to tip over when I am moving at speed.

Time for a new bag.

I had non negotiable requirements. It had to be cheap and it had to be carryon (22″ x 14″ x 9″). Otherwise I had no requirements. I have mulled this issue in print for some years and I thought my preferences were settled. Hah.

What I bought surprised even me.

I bought an Osprey Fairpoint 40 men’s bag – 40 liter capacity – and here’s the deal: no wheels but this is a backpack. Price: $137 at Amazon.

But this is not just any backpack.

A huge difference between the Osprey Fairpoint and traditional backpacks is that the latter have a big cavern where you stuff your belongings while the Fairpoint has a clamshell opening so what you have packed is immediately visible. Hunt for fresh socks with a typical backpack and you may wind up dumping everything out on a nearby bed. With the Fairpoint just unzip the thing and what you are seeking is right there.

Everything about the Osprey is well designed and thought out. “Also great,” ruled the NY Times’ Wirecutter reviewers who also point out it comes with a lifetime warranty which is surprisingly common with luggage (Patagonia, Briggs and Riley, etc.) but it nonetheless is a nice Osprey perk.

Many years ago I bought a backpack carryon on bag from a travel gear purveyor and frankly it was poorly designed junk. The load kept slipping and sliding around inside the bag as I walked (usually around an airport and a city, not up a slippery hiking trail). I soon gave it to a friend who admired the quirkiness of it but it cannot possibly have provided much useful service.

The Osprey is better designed. It is designed both to be a straightforward piece of carryon but also for a backpacker who wants a compact bag. And it even has a laptop sleeve. as well as compression straps to keep contents from shifting. There also are multiple organizational inserts for sale – such as a three cube set for $38 – that allow for customization of the storage.

Am I comfortable with a backpack? That is a good question. Many find them to be very uncomfortable and, initially, I did too.

In some years of walking and hiking around Phoenix I have grown accustomed to wearing a backpack – usually a compact Fjallraven that I have stuffed with water bottles. You don’t want to walk long distances around Phoenix without water. A backpack doesn’t bother me anymore.

Is the Fairpoint genuinely good for hiking? Probably, for serious hikers, purpose built hiking backpacks are a better option when you want to walk most of the Appalachian Trail. I have a 10 year old LL Bean AT 55 pack (60 liter capacity) which is what I would take if I decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. The Osprey Fairpoint – many reviewers agree – is better suited to day hikes where you will be bunking in hotels not campsites.

That’s me. I don’t plan to jam a sleeping bag and a cook stove in the Osprey and it was never designed for such loads. What I plan to use it for are light loads – under 20 pounds including an iPad – and for that weight the Fairpoint is a match. I have heard some say they crammed 40 pounds in it but, frankly, I think a well chosen expedition backpack is more appropriate for comfortably and safely lugging heavy weights.

That light weight load of the Osprey on my back is also why I think I won’t mind carrying the weight instead of rolling it. It just isn’t that much to grumble about.

Besides, in carrying my sack I will be fulfilling a half century desire to live novelist Jack Kerouac’s vision: “I see a vision of a great rucksack revolution thousands or even millions of young Americans wandering around with rucksacks, going up to mountains to pray, making children laugh and old men glad, making young girls happy and old girls happier, all of ’em Zen Lunatics who go about writing poems that happen to appear in their heads for no reason and also by being kind and also by strange unexpected acts keep giving visions of eternal freedom to everybody and to all living creatures ….”

Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

Money woes.

It sounds like the title of a blues song but, ask Peter Rice, Chief Banking Officer at Workers Credit Union in Massachusetts, and he will tell you it’s not an oldie but today’s lyric and he can prove it with a recent Central Mass survey that found 65% of the residents said they were unsure, stressed, or extremely stressed about money.  

Ouch. that’s a lot of anxiety but, said Rice, it’s exactly a place where a credit union could and should help and, in that way, it will also gain a competitive edge.

In the process, Workers has introduced a new branch concept – called PlanIt – which, get this, features an interactive hologram named Olivia and a short, perky robot named Pepper.  

I don’t kid you.

That’s because the Workers hope with its new branch is that it will be welcoming, inclusive, but also will help inspire members to achieve their personal financial wellness.

A stat that hit Rice like a brick is that most of us – even the seemingly well off – don’t have $400 in ready cash to deal with financial emergencies and yet this past 18 months have been a text book illustration of how the unexpected and unimagined can become our reality.

We need to be financially well to deal with these speed bumps in our life highway.

A goal of the PlanIt centers – Workers has opened three and has plans for more – is to help members to feel empowered and also to get them more engaged with the credit union.

And, yeah, people do come into the branches to interact with Olivia- who is multi lingual and very helpful – and also with Pepper who is cheery.

Is this the future of the credit union branch?

Is this how a credit union can win the battle for the member?

Expect to hear challenges to credit union orthodoxies in this podcast.  Rice thinks into the future and in this podcast he tells his route to getting there. By the way that accent you hear is not a rogue Boston lilt. It’s from Rice’s native Ireland.  

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Ask Kavita Singh – a vice president at payments company Payrailz – what’s a smart way to differentiate a credit union in a a competitive marketplace that is ever more cluttered and her answer is succinct: AI.

As she wrote in a recent Credit Union Times article, “Credit union leaders must go a step further and find a true strategic differentiator. This can be found via artificial intelligence.”

A few years ago AI was akin to The Matrix – kind of a cool but spacey idea and, truth to tell, none but the very biggest credit unions even had it on their “learn about” lists.

That’s changed.

AI is suddenly everywhere.  Call your cellphone provider and a machine will answer.  Ditto at the big credit card companies.  Also airlines. And down a lengthening list of institutions that, increasingly, turn to machines to find information, answer customer questions, solve problems.

In Singh’s view, credit unions are ideally positioned to win at AI, mainly because they already have bushels of member data and that data, properly used, will tell how best to serve this member’s needs right now.

Singh gives this for instance: “For example, a member may pay a particular bill around a certain time of month. AI will learn this behavior and begin to proactively alert, or remind, members in advance of the pending bill.”

Think about that. A simple nudge may help save a member a late fee and that is a way to build member loyalty.

AI can also predict in advance when a member is about to bounce a check and that’s not black magic. It’s knowing the account balance and also knowing what bills are likely to come in soon and if the numbers don’t add up that member could be prodded to shift money from another place into an account to cover the incoming bills.  That means more late fees saved.

Think too about how good companies like Amazon and Netflix have gotten about predicting what you want to consume next.  They are not guessing.  What they are doing is cranking in past consumer behavior and taking a very educated guess about what this consumer wants next.

AI is changing our lives and it will be a factor in what credit unions thrive (and which don’t).

You want to hear Singh on credit unions and AI.

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

by Robert McGarvey

Every day a dairy cow makes a mountain of manure. An average cow excretes a staggering 120 pounds of feces and urine daily, and that means odors, which leads to complaints. Then there are complaints about the methane emissions associated with cow manure. The average cow produces 250 to 500 liters of methane a day. And experts say cutting methane is a key in today’s climate fight.

Dairy cow manure — and know there are over 9 million dairy cows in the US — is a problem, except maybe it isn’t.

Just maybe it is a source of real profits for entrepreneurial dairy farmers who are finding ways to transform manure into money in their pockets while also solving genuine consumer problems in their communities.

Continued at Startup Savant

By Robert McGarvey

I know a guy – call him Tom – who is fully vaccinated and a couple weeks ago his company told him to show up at a golf tournament they were holding for big customers at one of the nation’s swankiest courses.

At this event there were no masks and why would there be, everybody being fully vaccinated, or at least claiming to be.

There wasn’t much social distancing either.

You know where this story is ending, right?

Tom now is in bed with a case of Covid.

His case so far is mild.  But he has Covid and he was fully vaccinated.

That is why I now say it is plain delusional and loony to talk about a return of business travel this year. And there won’t be a return of in-person events, either.

Not in 2021.

Don’t blame me.  Blame the unvaccinated who right now are about 50% of us.  Why so many?  I have no idea.  Cockamamie beliefs, twisted politics, who knows – but here’s the deal: their refusal to get vaccinated is endangering the rest of us.  Sure, if they quarantined they would be out of harm’s way, at least our harms way.  That would be fine by me.  

But I don’t trust them to self quarantine until the Covid-19 epidemic runs its course.

I don’t even trust them to wear masks.

Will they get vaccinated now that the Delta variant is rampaging across the country (and especially in states such as Florida and Louisiana with loudly anti vax populations)?  

So far many of them have ignored the carrot and what comes next is the stick.  Such as? Some experts suggest allowing health insurers to charge a penalty premium from the unvaccinated and why not? Insurers already charge smokers a penalty fee on the grounds that personal choices sometimes have horrendous health consequences and who better to pay for it than the person who made the choice?

Most who are sickened by the Delta variant are unvaccinated and the vast majority of serious illnesses are. Which means a price could be paid.

That might help motivate the unvaccinated to get on the script.

Meantime, a stampede of large employers has announced a vaccine requirement for employees, although most offer a loophole where an employee who wants to stay unvaccinated can provide frequent, negative Covid test results.  The federal government, WalMart, Disney, Google, Facebook have all joined the parade.

Another parade is forming of organizations that are pushing back their return to the office date for employees.  Many had been noodling on a September date.  As the Delta variant explodes across America, employers have torn up those orders and now are talking about a late winter 2022 return date, say February.  

Do you hear the sound of business travel plans coursing through the shredder?

To quote from Business Travel News, “Corporate travel’s return from its Covid-19-induced standstill will pick up speed throughout the remainder of 2021 but likely will remain significantly below pre-pandemic levels for at least another year, and some types of travel may never fully return, according to a new study from Deloitte.”

To quote from Finance & Commerce: “A year and a half of forgoing virtually all travel and doing business by video conference has led many business people to conclude that a lot of their previous travel wasn’t worth the time and toll on their bodies and mental state, on their families and the environment. That’s even before considering the role that travel played in transmitting the virus across continents.”

Unpack, those business trips you had been planning just a few weeks ago – and they looked very probable – now look like mirages that disappeared.  

Thank the unvaccinated in our midst.

As Dr. Anthony Fauci said on “Face the Nation,” “We have 100 million people in this country … who are eligible to be vaccinated, who are not vaccinated. We’ve really got to get those people to change their minds, make it easy for them, convince them, do something to get them to be vaccinated because they are the ones that are propagating this outbreak.”

Amen.

You know the income of many of your members.

Now here’s the big question: do you know what they are spending it on?

Down to the SKU level – that is, on exactly what are they spending?

You want to meet Izabella Gabowicz, COO and a founding team member at Toronto based fintech Sensibill, a company built around the insight that financial wellness is not one size fits all.  Joe’s financial wellness might include a craft beer a day, wile Susie’s might favor a non alcoholic kombucha a day and, yeah, knowing such differences night help a financial institution deliver more customized financial wellness programming.

Says Sensibill about itself, “At Sensibill, we’re working to make financial services personal—you could say, more human. We build products that reveal insights into everyday spend that can be used to truly personalize financial services. And in doing so, help people achieve their unique version of financial wellness.”

Focus on that: insights into personal daily spend.

It all adds up. A newspaper, a cup of coffee, a short taxi ride and who is keeping track?

Sensibill can.

How?  Listen to this podcast where Gabowicz extols the benefits of SKU level spending data.

Know too that Sensibill’s products touch 60 million people worldwide.

Call this financial wellness 2.0.

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto