Turns out it's a whole lot of characters to spell out and type. Since we've had a web presence, you've known us online as statesavingsonline.com. In 2015 when the .bank domain came into existence, we put migrating to .bank on our "to do" list. This year, the .bank project finally got on our "this is going to happen" list but as we started planning and reflecting on how online channels continue to grow, we decided it was time to go with an easier identifier. We are excited to announce that when this goes live, online we will be simply ssb.bank. It's easy to spell out, easy to type, it matches our logo, and it's easy to remember. You will receive more information as this gets closer to launch. Stay tuned!

Have you noticed the sudden rash of new privacy policies and popups asking you to accept "cookies" on websites recently? It's likely due to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that went into effect May 25th setting guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information of individuals within the European Union. Do you have an office or conduct business in one of the 28 countries that comprise the EU? Do you market your products and services to persons residing in the EU? Do you have relationships with vendors that process the personal data of EU citizens or vendors?

At first glance, you may think this doesn't apply to small businesses in central Iowa. But if you dig in, you may be surprised. Does your website use tracking cookies and do you know what information those cookies collect? Do you send international wires to businesses or residents in the EU? Do you work with vendors in the EU? We encourage you to do a little research to learn what the GDPR considers "personal data" and examine your business activities to make sure you understand the regulation and have all your bases covered.

We received an alert this week indicating security organizations are seeing increased evidence that  criminals are using automation to quickly test illegally obtained usernames and passwords to see if the combination has been used elsewhere. When you consider the number of data breaches occurring, (the Identity Theft Resource Center reported over 1,500 breaches in 2017) and the number of times passwords are reused, this is a serious concern. Best practice is to create unique passwords for every website or login you have. This is especially important for your online banking and e-mail accounts. We highly encourage you to protect your business by using unique and strong passwords that you do not reuse for any other login.

Late in May Congress passed legislation requiring the credit reporting companies to allow consumers to freeze and unfreeze their credit reports free of charge. (Currently Iowans are charged $10 for each credit file they freeze or unfreeze.) Additionally, the law now allows you to place a fraud alert on your credit file at no cost for one year, up from 90 days. This law takes effect on September 21st.

If you pay variable interest rates on student loans, recent Federal Reserve interest rate hikes may be raising the interest rates you're paying on those loans. We work with Iowa Student Loan to help refinance existing student loan debt. Depending on your circumstances, the Reset Refinance Loan may help you simplify repayment or pay lower interest costs on your existing debt. Learn more here.

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