Important news about your Champions First credit or debit card
Are you planning a trip overseas? Please read the following information carefully.
Traveling Abroad?
What you should do before traveling:
Notify Champions First Credit Union of the dates of travel and the countries that you will be visiting. This is as simple as just phoning the credit union at (850) 224-4960, coming to a branch in person or sending the information in writing to:
Champions First Credit Union
Attention: Card Services
P.O. Box 182499
Tallahassee, FL 32318-0022
Why do you need to notify Champions First?
Champions First Credit Union offers a comprehensive fraud watching program that monitors the normal card use of members. Overseas purchases are deemed suspicious and the fraud watching program will try to contact the member for verification of the transactions. The member may not be available due to their travels and in turn, the fraud program will block the cards in an effort to protect the member from fraudulent charges.
Some countries have extremely high fraud occurrences such as Asian Pacific countries and Australia. These countries are blocked so the member would not be able to make any purchases in these locations until the credit union has lifted the block temporarily.
How can you defend yourself from fraud while traveling?
First, you will want to make sure that your card is in your possession at all times. If you store your card in your wallet or purse, make sure that you do not put these items down at any time or ask anyone to hold them for you.
Second, if you have access to the internet during your travels, please take a look at your account. You will want to look for any suspicious activity and if you find that your card has been used fraudulently, please report it to the credit union immediately.
Third, be aware of your surroundings when using ATMs. If you do not feel safe, walk to another ATM location or go into a financial institution to complete your transaction.
If you find that your card is lost/stolen or that there is suspicious activity on your account, please contact Champions First Credit Union immediately. You may also call (800) 449-7728 to report your card lost/stolen anytime, day or night. The Card Services Department also has access to lost/stolen hotline numbers that can be used overseas via a collect call. Please request these numbers while notifying the Champions First Credit Union of your travels.
If your card is being declined while traveling abroad, or you need to set up an out-of-country notification outside of normal business hours, please call (888) 918-7313.
For more information, please contact our card services department toll-free at 1-877-463-7828. Safe travels!