Debit cards are a great alternative for your everyday financial transactions. They are more convenient, easy to use, and safer than carrying cash and writing checks; however, loss or theft can happen at anytime. Fortunately, your liability is limited under certain circumstances, and if you act fast, you can get back to normal in no time!

What To Do

If you believe your Card has been lost or stolen or that someone has transferred or may transfer money from your account without your permission, call:

Southwest Heritage: 1-800-234-4582
VISA Lost/Stolen Card: 1-800-442-4757
Fax: (432) 367-6191
Email Us: Member Feedback

Member Liability

You are responsible for all EFT (electronic funds transfer) transactions you authorize. If you permit someone else to use an EFT service, your Card or your access code, you are responsible for any transactions they authorize or conduct on any of your accounts.

Tell us AT ONCE if you believe your card has been lost or stolen or if you believe that someone has used your Card or access code or otherwise accessed your accounts without your authority or if you believe that an electronic fund transfer has been made without your permission using information from your check.

Telephoning is the best way of keeping your possible losses down, because you could lose all the money in your account. Depending on your level of negligence, and if you contact us within two (2) business days, you could lose no more than $50. After two (2) business days, you could lose as much as $500. Also, if your statement shows transfers that you did not make, including those made by card, code, or other means, tell us at once. If you do not tell us within sixty (60) days after the statement was mailed to you, you may not get back any money lost after the sixty (60) days if we can prove that we could have stopped someone from making the transfers if you had told us in time. If a good reason (such as a hospital stay) kept you from telling us, we will extend the time periods.

Contact Us for more information about your potential liability.

Prevention

The following information is from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission website
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre04.shtm

Protecting Your Cards
The best protections against card fraud are to know where your cards are at all times and to keep them secure. For protection of ATM and debit cards that involve a Personal Identification Number (PIN), keep your PIN a secret. Don't use your address, birthdate, phone or Social Security number as the PIN and do memorize the number.

The following suggestions may help you protect your credit card and your ATM or debit card accounts.

For ATM or debit cards:

• Don't carry your PIN in your wallet or purse or write it on your ATM or debit card.
• Never write your PIN on the outside of a deposit slip, an envelope, or other papers that could be easily lost or seen.
• Carefully check ATM or debit card transactions before you enter the PIN or before you sign the receipt; the funds for this item will be fairly quickly transferred out of your checking or other deposit account.
• Periodically check your account activity. This is particularly important if you bank online. Compare the current balance and recent withdrawals or transfers to those you've recorded, including your current ATM and debit card withdrawals and purchases and your recent checks. If you notice transactions you didn't make, or if your balance has dropped suddenly without activity by you, immediately report the problem to your card issuer. Someone may have co-opted your account information to commit fraud.