Pub. 5 2015-2016 Issue 3

O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G C O L O R A D A N S R E A L I Z E D R E A M S November • December 2015 9 Other topics include: • Protecting oneself at the ATM • information on scams • Payday Loans • Vehicle financing • Credit do’s and don’ts • The danger of credit card debt Protect lives and property against America’s No. 1 Disaster As temperatures drop, the risk for home fires increases across the country. The American Red Cross responds to an average of about 70,000 disasters every year, and most of these are home fires. In an average year they kill and injure more Americans than all other domestic disasters combined. Home fires are devastating for the families they affect. People often lose everything they own; even when a home survives a fire, the contents of that home suffer damage due to fire, smoke and water. To prevent this loss of life and property, encourage your employees and clients to take these steps: • Install working smoke alarms on every floor in your home, in bedrooms and outside sleeping areas. Test alarms once a month and change batteries twice a year. • Make an emergency plan with your household. Include an evacuation plan, meet-up locations, and a plan for how you’ll communicate with each other if cell phones are lost or down. • Cook safely: Never leave the stove unattended when pre- paring the holiday meal. If you have to leave the kitchen even for a short time, turn off the stove. Use a timer and check food regularly. Keep children and pets away from the cooking area. • Keep anything that can catch fire away from sources of heat – that includes the stove, oven, appliances, candles and portable heaters. • Turn it off before you go to bed: Unplug heaters and holiday lights at the end of the night. Check kitchen appli- ances and the oven and stove to make sure they’re off, too. Practice Smart Giving During Holidays Many people make their end-of-year donations in November and December. There are many worthy, legitimate charities to support. Unfortunately, there are sometimes also scams. To protect your financial security and make sure your gift goes farther, take these steps: • Research before you give: You can check sites like the Better Business Bureau and Charity Navigator to determine whether a charity is legitimate and how they use funds. • Watch out for imposters: Unfortunately, sometimes scammers impersonate legitimate charities. Double check hyperlinks before clicking and providing your credit card information, and, if you’re uncertain whether a phone, e-mail or in-person solicitation is legitimate… • Go straight to the source to donate: it’s fine to decline and donate by going directly to the charity’s Web site or sending a check. Make a list and check it twice As you are wrapping presents and wrapping up your fi- nancial year, it’s a perfect time to make a plan to protect your finances in the face of disasters and emergencies. Download and follow this free Red Cross financial preparedness guide: http://goo.gl/jcnLPD  The Center for Bank Advocacy Training Practicum Just as “relationship banking” is important to your bank’s success, building solid and lasting interactions with public officials is critical. You have more comfort lending to someone you know; public officials and media also rely more on people they know and trust. We need to build these relationships now. Like never before, banking has sustained heavy regulatory assault over the past four years, due to overreaching, harmful and unnecessary legislation. Banks have borne the brunt of misguided andmisdirected blame following the 2008 economic crash. Your voice is needed more than ever to fight back and protect and defend your job and your industry. Colorado Bankers cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and silently fall victim to further damaging regulation. The Center for BankAdvocacy Training Practicum is a yearlong, learn-by-doing course on increasing banks’ influence on public policy. CBA is currently recruiting for the 2016 class. To learn more and register, go to: http://www.coloradobankers.org/events/ event_details.asp?id=691956&group 