Welcome to Fall! As we prepare to celebrate our favorite seasonal traditions, we’re thankful that you are a member-owner in our financial cooperative. Whether you’re a new member or have been with us for years, we’re glad you are part of SESLOC.
As mentioned in my last letter, we have been working hard to improve your experience, so let’s get straight into the updates…
A primary focus for us this year has been optimizing your deposit and loan account opening processes, so that you can bank and borrow with ease. In reviewing our Home Equity Line of Credit application, we not only identified and removed speedbumps, but we expanded the program to allow more properties to be eligible, and for member-owners to secure more funds by increasing the loan-to-value financing up to 90%.
Protecting your account and personal information is always a top priority for our team. We continuously track ongoing scams and update our online Fraud Center to help you be aware of the latest incidents affecting consumers locally and nationwide. Unfortunately, scammers get smarter and trickier every day – one of the latest is “Quishing.” This scam works by sending compromised QR codes that direct you to a fraudulent website designed to steal your information or install malware on your phone. When you see something like this, your best bet is to ignore it. Never scan a QR code unless you can verify who created or posted it. If you’re unsure, check the legitimacy before you scan. You can always report any suspicious activity you see or hear by calling us at (805) 543-1816 or sending a Secure Message through Online Banking. Every report helps us prevent members from getting scammed. Additionally, you can also check out the activities and resources we prepared for National Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October, which are listed on the front page of this newsletter.
Over the summer, four Cal Poly students joined SESLOC for our summer internship program, working on cybersecurity, digital infrastructure development and graphic design. Their final presentations at the end of August showcased work to improve your member experience by optimizing back-end processes, researching “Quishing” and other cybersecurity issues, and creating new engaging designs for our ATMs, member emails, and branch signage. I’d like to congratulate our interns on successfully completing the program and thank them for their contributions. I look forward to hearing about their future achievements.
Finally, SESLOC was named the “Large Business of the Year” by the Santa Maria Valley Chamber. We are incredibly excited to be recognized by such an esteemed organization and enjoyed celebrating with other honorees at the Santa Maria Valley Chamber’s 100th annual awards gala. Thank you for empowering us to be your financial partner of choice across Santa Maria and Northern Santa Barbara County.
I wish you and yours a very joyful holiday season and thank you again for your membership.
Mike Quamma
President & CEO