Do you know the policy your financial institution has regarding unauthorized access to your account through their Internet site? Are you protected against 100% of any losses that occur due to fraudulent access? If you haven’t checked the policy at your financial institution, it’s a good idea to do so. If they don’t offer protection for your assets then you need to start asking questions or think about moving them.
Identity theft and fraud continues to appear in the news. Most financial companies have increased their security and authentication programs but the thieves have become more sophisticated too. Some companies are struggling to gain new online customers because those customers are concerned about online theft. Both provider and customer have alot to lose in this matter. The most risk adverse way to avoid online fraud for the customer is not to use online services right?
The good news is that many companies are now backing their security systems and procedures with guarantees. I did a random search of five financial institutions this week to find their policies related to online fraud and theft. I was happy to find that all five of these companies have a 100% guarantee clearly stated on their sites.
The American Express Fraud Protection Guarantee
Use the American Express® Card online or off, and you won’t be held responsible for any fraudulent charges. Period.
No fine print, no deductible –just pure protection, so you can shop with confidence.
The HSBC $0 Liability Online Guarantee
You’re 100% covered for monetary losses resulting from any unauthorized account use or online account theft including:
- HSBC Personal Internet Banking and free Bill Pay service — you will not be liable for unauthorized or fraudulent online bill payments or funds transfers resulting from online theft of your HSBC account numbers or passwords
- HSBC credit cards — your liability for unauthorized use is $0
- HSBC Bank account — if you discover your online password has been stolen and funds withdrawn from your account, your liability is $0
- HSBC Premier customers — $0 fraud liability Identity fraud resolution services and expense reimbursement*. if you lose your Premier World MasterCard®, we’ll cancel it immediately and you will receive a replacement credit card the next day, no matter where you may be. If you lose your cash or your cards, we’ll immediately provide you with $1,000 U.S. in cash to meet your temporary needs.
The E*Trade Complete Protection Guarantee
Our promise to you is simple: E*TRADE Securities LLC or E*TRADE Bank will cover any loss that results from the unauthorized use of our brokerage, banking or lending services1.
We want you to have the highest level of confidence when you do business with Schwab. So we offer you this simple guarantee: Schwab will cover 100% of any losses in any of your Schwab accounts due to unauthorized activity.
The Merrill Lynch Online Fraud Protection Guarantee
We value you as our client, and we always want you to feel safe doing business with Merrill Lynch. As a commitment to our clients’ online account security, we are offering this guarantee: We will reimburse you for any losses that occur through Merrill Lynch Online® (our online retail brokerage platform) due to unauthorized third party activity.