Oktober 2006
Bank Note$ - News You Can Bank On
Curt Spotts Is ACB Volunteer of the Month
It is symbolic of Curt Spotts that when he was contacted about being ACB’s Volunteer of the Month, he responded by saying, “Thanks for the opportunity to have these organizations be recognized.”
Curt devotes great time and energy to a number of social and community efforts, including the Peoria Sunset Lions Club (first vice president); Beatitudes Center D.O.A.R. (developing older adult resources), and several other programs through the center, including Grandparents Raising Grandchildren; Southwest Valley Chamber of Commerce (treasurer on the executive board); The Church of the Beatitudes (stewardship committee chair, and coordinator for Family Promise, which helps people without permanent addresses). In addition, he travels to Tijuana every year to help build houses for the less fortunate through Esperanza International.
Real Estate Market Still Good Investment
Bill Smith, ACB Senior Vice President
The current real estate market is often described as “slowing.” However, a more accurate term is “correcting.” The appreciation of homes has corrected, and many people who want to buy new homes have put that notion on hold until their current residences sell. Other clients are making offers with contingencies on their homes selling. This is not an effective method to ensure that the deal will get done. Many individuals have their homes listed for sale and are not able to sell their homes in order to purchase new ones.
Now is an excellent time to purchase a new home while rates and values are steady. To determine what creative options are available to you, call 623-776-3814 for an appointment, and I will be happy to help you consider effective choices for your particular situation.
ACB Welcomes Richard Oliver
Richard Oliver recently joined ACB as Investment Advisor. He graduated from Arizona State University in 1966 with a degree in Business Management. He played on the ASU baseball team that won the College World Series in 1965.
Following his graduation, Richard became a pilot in the U.S. Air Force and flew Air Rescue in Vietnam. While in the Air Force, he earned a Master’s degree in public administration. He retired from the Air Force with the rank of Lt. Colonel, and has been a financial professional for twenty years, specializing in individual portfolio management and business 401k plans.
Richard is married and has a son and two daughters. He enjoys coaching youth baseball, and hunting and fishing.
FASTSIGNS Makes Good Friends Look Great
When FASTSIGNS stores in Phoenix organized a Trade Show Makeover Contest for non-profit groups in Maricopa County this summer, they weren’t certain what kind of entries would come in. Twenty-four organizations from across the county entered – and the FASTSIGNS judges were so taken aback by the entries, they decided to award three grand prizes instead of one. They also provided $100 gift certificates to all of the entrants to be used to “spruce up” their displays and signs.
Winning organizations included Home Base Youth Services, Phoenix; Multiple Sclerosis Society, Arizona Chapter (based in Tempe); and Orchard Glen Weed and Seed, Glendale. Each received $3,000 in trade show display assistance from Phoenix area FASTSIGNS stores, including design and materials. ACB client and FASTSIGNS owner Deborah Campbell said, “It was stunning to realize how few resources most worthy organizations have to work with in terms of their advertising and promotion. We were all thrilled to have the chance to help give a boost to the good work being done here locally.”
Glendale’s Orchard Glen Weed and Seed will be able to have “a real display,” according to coordinator Natalie Stahl. “We’ve been making do with a display we put together using home-created art supplies. This is going to make a huge difference. I think people will understand this is a very real group, and will take us much more seriously.”
SERVPRO Supports Endangered Girls
In April, SERVPRO of Central Glendale launched a fund-raiser to help young girls who have been the victims of neglect and abuse. In a few months, SERVPRO raised more than $1,900 in donations through friends, family, and clients to benefit The Angel Society, a home that provides a safe, supervised, and enriched 24-hour living environment for girls in crisis. Many donations were $25 apiece, each donated from a $50 discount on carpet cleaning. However, as word got around about SERVPRO’s efforts on behalf of The Angel Society, checks arrived in the mail from an array of supporters and well-wishers. For more information, call Kim Junkins, SERVPRO of Central Glendale, 623-594-6033, or visit www.angelsociety.org.
Grand Opening for Lake Pleasant Chiropractic and Wellness Center
Lake Pleasant Chiropractic and Wellness Center will celebrate their Grand Opening on Wednesday, October 25th. The celebration will begin at 4:30 p.m. with a ribbon cutting.
In addition to a tour of the facility, each guest will be offered a free health screening, including a digital nerve function scan, which is a painless non-invasive technology to identify patterns of nerve interference. The new Creating Wellness program will also be debuted. The event will include health talks and chair massages, appetizers, drinks, and door prizes.
Lake Pleasant Chiropractic and Wellness Center is located at 9059 West Lake Pleasant Parkway, Suite 700, in Peoria. The staff includes Dr. Melani Dias-Zair; Dr. Phillip J. Zair; Jodi Bagley, LMT; and Lori Ballard, yoga instructor.
For more information, call 623-572-4476, or visit www.lpchiropractic.com.
Seeing Life Through Different Glasses
West Valley Art Museum is featuring the work of Carole Perry and Jim Donafrio through January 7, 2007. The exhibit, titled Texture and Tales: Vignettes on Glass, includes work by two artists whose medium of choice is glass — one of the most difficult media to master.
Originally from New Jersey, Jim Donafrio has been a resident of Carefree, Arizona since 1992. His intense interest in the southwest is reflected in the designs that make his paperweights unique in their creativity, and their realism. Carole Perry, a former corporate executive who lives in nearby Cave Creek, Arizona, is known for her glass “tapestry” sculptures that emphasize color and give the illusion of soft fabric. She produces each glass textile with thousands of individual glass fibers that are stacked, joined together by color, shaped, and fused together by heat.
West Valley Art Museum is open 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. The Museum is located at 17420 N. Avenue of the Arts, Surprise, Arizona. For information, call 623-972-0456, or visit www.wvam.org.
Preventing Check Fraud - What You Can Do About It
Contributed by Jacqueline Parker, Strategic Products & Services, Capitol Bancorp LimitedCheck fraud is a problem that will cost American businesses and banks an estimated $50 billion this year alone. With a home computer and a laser printer, anyone can create authentic-looking checks that only require your company's account number to make them look and act as if they are real. Technology-savvy criminals can reproduce hundreds of realistic counterfeit or forged checks in a matter of hours if they get access to the basic account information that’s readily available on your printed checks.
Historically, many companies have not taken the probability of check fraud seriously. However, recent changes in the Uniform Commercial Code have redefined liability for corporate check fraud to include a standard of “ordinary care” that emphasizes greater responsibility and reasonable check issuing standards by the business community.
While many businesses feel that the risk of check fraud loss is not great enough to necessitate any action, they fail to realize that a single incidence of check fraud would likely cost more than the cost of the basic fraud prevention measures that would prevent it. Check fraud hits your company’s bottom line directly. It also disrupts your business. Imagine the hassle you'd have to go through to close accounts, issue stop payments, order new checks and reissue payments. To avoid all this, your company needs to take basic proactive steps to protect itself against the threat of check fraud.
Positive Pay is currently the most effective weapon against check fraud. With Positive Pay, you will be notified of unauthorized checks via our Cash Management system and can make the decision to pay or return them online.
With Positive Pay, each time your company issues checks, you’ll transmit an electronic file or manually enter the check information into our Cash Management system. As your checks are presented for payment and clear our system, we’ll notify you of any that do not match the issue criteria (check number, date or amount). You’ll then have the opportunity to review those checks online and determine if they should be returned or paid. Positive Pay helps prevent fraud from altered checks, checks printed elsewhere, checks from stolen check stock and even valid issued checks that are lost or stolen. Positive Pay also inhibits internal fraud in that it adds additional levels of security that reduce each employee’s role in the check writing and reconcilement process.
For more information about how you can start using Positive Pay or how you can take advantage of electronic funds transfers on our Cash Management system, please contact one of our professional bankers at (623) 776-0800.
Ways that you could be hit by check fraud:
- Stolen issued checks and stolen check materials — Mail theft is another growing trend in this country, and your checks are at risk from the moment they are printed, until the moment they are cashed.
- Check alteration — This is most common with payroll checks.
- Copying checks and home printing — Changing various information on a check and making a color copy has proven easy and effective.
- Unauthorized printing within your company — Internal check fraud is as great a threat as external check fraud. Employees who have access to all aspects of accounting and check printing have plenty of opportunity.
Other things you can do to help prevent check fraud:
- Don’t use pre-printed check stock — Use blank check stock in conjunction with a micr laser check printing software.
- Use check stock with security features — Check stock now has its own security features that prevent copying or mimicking. Magnetic toner has also made home printing more difficult and expensive.
- Use tightly controlled check printing procedures — Ensure that employees not involved in the accounting process do not have access to check printing equipment. Your company printer should be different from your check printer.
- Separation of duties — Make sure that one person does not have access to the entire check issuance and reconcilement process.
- Write fewer checks by using automatic deposits or electronic funds transfers — Reducing the number of checks you issue reduces the access to your account information. Our Cash Management system offers a number of electronic payment solutions for your business.
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
- Thomas A. Edison
