WASHINGTON–In advance of a congressional hearing yesterday on elder fraud, CUNA sent a letter to the Senate Special Committee on Aging stressing resources credit unions have made available to fight the problem.
“Many credit unions provide a full range of financial services such as financial management, retirement planning, and credit counseling to their members,” wrote CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle in advance of the hearing titled "Fighting Elder Fraud: Progress Made, Work to be Done.”
“The cooperative relationship between a credit union and its members often puts credit union employees in a vital position to detect suspicious financial activity related to seniors’ accounts because employees tend to know their members well and are likely to recognize when something is amiss,” continued Nussle.
Support for Senior$afe Act
CUNA said it supports efforts to help protect seniors from financial exploitation as it is one of the most common forms of elder abuse.
The Senior$afe Act was included in the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155), which had the backing of CUNA and other trade associations.
“Senior$afe represents an important step toward improving the ability of credit unions to protect seniors from unscrupulous activity by providing limited immunity for properly trained financial employees who disclose concerns about financial exploitation of senior citizens to the appropriate authorities,” Nussle added in his letter to Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Bob Casey (D-PA.).