I made a payment and received this email:
*********************************
You recently submitted a payment
The following payment will be effective as of 05/12/2025:
To account Big Bank XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-0188
From account Big Bank XXXX-XX5310
Payment amount $1,500.00
If you have questions, Big Bank Customer Service is available 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week. Big Bank Consumer Card Customer Service is
available at 1-866-***-****.
Thank you for banking with Big Bank.
**************************************
There are two cases to consider:
1. I made the payment
2. I did not make the payment.
The email has marginal value in the first case. I know what I did and the email doesn’t tell me anything new (except the 24/7 support number is really nice, all credit unions should have 24/7 support).
In the second case the email is really important. It means my account has been hacked and I need to do something about it really quickly, but the email is not designed to help someone with a hacked account. Here are the problems:
1. The member should have an opportunity to block the transfer before it happens. This email tells them someone has successfully stolen their money. Too late to stop it.
2. There is a phone number to call and then a hold time and time to explain what happened and… too many steps to do anything useful in time.
3. The phone number is the same number for all cases. This is an urgent fraud situation, it needs special attention and an immediate response.
4. The member cannot do anything without talking to someone at the credit union. The member should have 24/7 control over the situation.
And by the way, these problems apply to OTP challenges, login alerts, payment notifications and many other communications from the credit union.
The bottom line: the most important case is when the payment is fraudulent but the email doesn’t address the possibility of fraud.
Author: Chris Doner, Founder & CEO, Access Softek