CFPB released a report titled, “Fighting Elder Financial
Exploitation through Community Networks,” detailing the financial vulnerability
of older Americans and ways to prevent their exploitation through the use of
networks. While the report provided valuable information on what financial
institutions could do to thwart elder financial abuse, it also highlighted many
things credit unions already do to prevent this issue. Notable examples include
credit union involvement in the iFAST network; the funding of Ohio’s CAANE
program; and SECU’s collaboration with North Carolina’s HHS to implement a
training program for their employees.
As the report notes, credit unions are already active in
fighting elder abuse. In particular, the report discusses iFAST inetwork that
has developed relationships with many credit unions, who actively attend
summits for fraud detection, reporting, and prevention training and relationship-building
purposes. Attendance to these summits by credit unions are said to be on the
rise.
Credit union support for symposiums on elder abuse and
providing printed and advertising materials for Ohio’s Collaboration Against
Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation (CAANE) was also noted in this report.
Finally, in 2014-15, North Carolina’s Health and Human
Services department joined forces with the State Employees Credit Union to
execute a “train-the-trainer” program where employees would become an
educational resource on elder financial abuse for the Money Smart for Older
Adults curriculum. SECU led the initiative and provided training for nearly 400
professionals in North Carolina.
Credit unions are encouraged to continue the fight against
elder financial exploitation in the following ways:
- Heavier involvement with local networks as credit
unions are uniquely positioned to be early detectors of potential abuse.
- Having a trained staff that can recognize and
report cases of financial exploitation of older members
- Creating networks in communities where they are
non-existent, especially areas with an older population.