New banking services aimed at protecting seniors from fraud
HOUSTON - AARP reports senior citizens are scammed out of $28 billion each year.
It's leading more financial institutions to set up alert systems and fraud protection on accounts.
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One banking service launched this year is focused exclusively on helping and protecting seniors.
"He was a very giving person, sometimes too much," said Craig Lane, recalling how his now late father lost more than $100,000 to a romance scam last year.
It's a crime that preys on the vulnerable. Seniors are often targeted by scammers who gain their trust and dupe them out of their hard-earned savings.
"I saw in his bank account a number of places where he had sent her money through that, $2,000 here, $2,000 there," recalled Lane.
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Rampant senior scams inspired Kevin Nazemi to co-found Charlie, a checking account and Visa debit card for seniors, age 62 and up, through FDIC-insured Sutton Bank. He says it has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements, and lets seniors access their Social Security checks three to five days early.
"Most people over the age of 62 are trying to make the most of a limited set of resources, make the most of their Social Security check," said Nazemi.
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Nazemi says Charlie also now offers customers free fraud protection, including monitoring the account for unusual transactions.
"If we notice some activity is going on, depending on the size of the activity, we will freeze the card and not allow any other activity. We'll freeze that transaction as well," explained Nazemi.
A senior can put their account in Sleep Mode, freeze it for online transactions, or set spending limits.
"If you're someone who doesn’t shop online at all, you can say don’t allow any online transactions to go through. If you’re someone who shops at Amazon, you can say don’t allow any online transactions except at Amazon to go through," Nazemi said.
Charlie accounts can be set up to send text alerts for every transaction to both the senior and a Co-Pilot, a trusted person who is not able to spend the funds.
Nazemi says he hopes Charlie will help stem the tide of seniors being swindled.
He says Charlie makes its money by receiving a percentage of the swipe fee that merchants pay to Visa when a customer uses their Visa debit card.
Other financial institutions also offer checking accounts specifically for seniors, or accounts that are for anyone that have some of these features.
For example, many banks let a customer sign up for text or email alerts when large transactions hit their account.
Investopia and Business Insider offer a round-up of banking services that can be helpful for seniors.