Should you be wary when you receive a letter with this title?  You bet.  We urge extreme caution when responding to letter or e-mail notifications you receive indicating you have been awarded a claim.  In many cases, these are scams. You receive the letter notifying that you have won a drawing or lottery for usually a few thousand dollars - and a check along with it or another mailing shortly thereafter with a check.

It is important that you not deposit the check or take this award seriously.  It may look legitimate, but in many cases it is not.

Usually after you receive and deposit the check, another e-mail or letter follows saying you need to send back some or all of the money for one reason or another.  The crooks have it timed out so that the request to send money back comes to you before the check you deposited has had time to be returned non-sufficient funds.  If you should fall prey to this type of scam, you will be out the money that you sent back to the addressee.

Remember the old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true - it probably is."

Patti Gramentz, Account Operations Specialist

It seems no matter where you turn lately, you are hearing or reading something about the new Credit Card laws!  With all of the changes being made, it didn't take the big credit card companies long to figure out that the cards that have been issued to their customers who aren't carrying balances are not going to make them any money.  Now we are hearing that these big card issuers are starting to close the accounts of these customers.

Why is this important to you as a consumer?  Your credit score is comprised of many different factors.  These factors include things such as:  how much credit you have had; what types of credit you have (mixture of installment loans like car loans, mortgages, etc & revolving accounts like credit cards & lines of credit); how you have handled your credit (have you charged up to your available limit on one of your card(s); have you made your payments on time); and how long you have had credit.

So, it got me to thinking...if some of the credit cards that I have had for a long time (but don't currently use) get closed on me, how is that going to affect my credit score?  How will it affect my CAPACITY?

Here are 2 examples of capacity:

1) Let's say I have 6 credit cards open under my social security number and have had them all for 5+ years. The total available credit that I have is $50,000. I typically carry balances of less than $5,000 total. My available capacity is 90%.  Change the typical balances that I carry to $10,000, capacity = 80%

2) Let's say that of those 5 cards, I have only really used 2 of them for the last 3 years and the companies decide to close the 3 that I haven't been using. Now my total available credit has shrunk to $20,000 and my typical balances are still $5,000. My available capacity is now 75%.  Use this scenario with the typical balances that I carry at $10,000, capacity = 50%

Capacity affects a person's credit score.  If you have used up all of your available credit, where would you turn to help you out in a true bind?  A good rule of thumb to follow to help you create and maintain a good credit score is to keep your available capacity at more than 70% ~ to help build a great credit score keep it over 90%!

If you are concerned or have questions about your capacity or your credit score, set up a time to talk to one of our Financial Service Representatives.  They will help you analyze your credit report and educate you.  Capacity is only one aspect of what makes up your credit score ~ look for more in the future!

Jill Berdan - Sleepy Eye Branch Manager

SouthPoint's new Mission Statement:

SouthPoint Federal Credit Union empowers members to achieve their goals and dreams by providing exceptional service and guidance. We aspire to become the primary financial institution for members, contribute to the well-being of our communities and maintain earnings and reserves which promote sound growth and encourage member confidence and loyalty.

What does it all mean to our members?

Read more: Have you read our new Mission Statement?

Dateline goes undercover and uses bait credit cards and a fake online store to expose the activity in the Internet's underbelly

This report airs Dateline NBC Sunday, July 22, 7 p.m.

NBC's Chris Hansen goes undercover as an employee of "CH Delivery", and delivers merchandise purchased with stolen credit cards. Are the folks receiving the packages fellow scammers or victims?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17822386/