Increase rewards earning with Visa® Platinum Card

Posted on October 5, 2015 by vcnbfamily

Customers who have signed up for our new Rewards Checking account at VCNB will be pleased to know that their rewards earning potential increases when they also use a VCNB Visa® Platinum card.

We are overwhelmed by the number of customers – both new and old – who have taken advantage of our new Rewards Checking. With Rewards Checking, customers earn UChoose® Rewards Points for their regular banking habits and for their daily spending. Rewards Checking customers who also have a Visa Platinum Credit Card can earn even more points every time they use this credit card.

In fact, customers earn one reward point for every dollar spent in purchases on a Visa Platinum Credit Card. Purchases made with a VCNB Rewards Debit Card earn one point for every three dollars spent.

It is easy to track Rewards Points through a customer account on the UChoose website and redeem them for merchant gift cards, cash back, travel, hotels, movie tickets, merchandise and more. To be most effective, the debit card and credit card should be registered to the same UChoose account so the points will accumulate faster.

Want to learn more about Rewards Checking and a special bonus we are offering now? CLICK HERE for details. Thinking about a Visa Platinum, need help with your UChoose account or have other questions? We would love to hear from you! Contact an Account Representative at your local VCNB office or call Customer Service at 1.800.542.5004. You can also chat with us from our website!

VCNB Employees Talk Savings Goals

Posted on September 22, 2015 by vcnbfamily

VCNB Rewards Checking has opened a new world of opportunity for our customers to earn points toward things they want! Gift cards, cash back, travel and other great rewards are available.

Ever wonder what other people are saving their UChoose Rewards® points for? We asked some of our employees to tell us about their savings goals!

Here are their answers. Click to enlarge:

Rewards Checking Savings Chart

What are you saving your UChoose® Rewards points for? Don’t have VCNB Rewards Checking? Learn more and open an account here!

Back to School Time With Popmoney®

Posted on September 22, 2015 by vcnbfamily

Let’s face it. Back to School time is expensive and it’s busy. Between school functions, extracurricular sports and the flurry of other activities that occur in the fall, most of us are on the go all the time. While debit and credit card usage is on the rise, many of our customers find themselves without cash – sometimes when they need it most.

That’s where Popmoney® Personal Payment Service can come in handy. This service allows customers to send funds to other people using just their mobile phone number or email address.

That’s right. You don’t need their bank account information to send funds. You don’t have to stop at the bank or the ATM. Just login to your bank account via online banking or our mobile banking app to get started.

Just think how useful it could be if you are sharing a bill with someone or if you owe money to a friend. It’s Saturday night and you’re having pizza out with friends. Instead of making your poor waiter split the bill five ways, have one person pay and everyone else can just reimburse the buyer by sending the money via Popmoney!

Your neighbor is replacing their like new kitchen table and is offering you first dibs for a good price. You don’t have the cash on you but you can send them the money right from their living room with just a few clicks on your phone.

Your niece is away at college and is always desperate for spending money. You take pity on her and want to give her a little extra but want to do it more quickly than sending a check in the mail. If you send it via Popmoney she can have it before the leftover pizza is gone.

Whether you are sending or receiving money, Popmoney is easy to use. It does cost .50 per transaction to send money but it’s free to receive. If you have a Rewards Checking account with VCNB you can earn a few rewards points when you use Popmoney.

To get started with Popmoney, just sign in to your online or mobile bank account. Click on Online Bill Pay and look for the Popmoney tab.

Earning Rewards With Rewards Checking

Posted on September 16, 2015 by vcnbfamily

Lots of our customers are signing up for Rewards Checking and are excited to find ways to earn points with UChoose Rewards®. Here are a few ways points can be earned.

Swipe your card(s)
Receive one point for every $3 spent with your debit card. Have a VCNB Platinum Visa® Favor Credit Card? Earn one point for every dollar spent when you swipe this card.

Direct Deposit
You’re receiving a paycheck anyway. Now you can earn ten points for one direct deposit per monthly cycle.

Swipe your debit card more
Swipe your debit card 21 or more times during a monthly cycle and receive 200 bonus points! Earning points was never so easy.

Online Bill Pay
Pay bills with VCNB Online Bill Pay to earn even more! Receive twenty points per transaction and receive up to 100 points per monthly cycle simply for paying your bills. Just remember, if you sign up for Bill Pay, you must make at least one payment during the calendar month or you will be assessed a $3 fee.

Popmoney ® Personal Payment Service
Send money to someone with Popmoney® and earn 50 points per transaction. You can earn up to 200 points just using this service you may already be using. At .50 per transaction to use Popmoney®, it’s cheaper than mailing a check!

New Savings Account
Receive a 1,000 point one-time bonus at the time of account opening when you open a new savings account.

One more thing. We will reward your loyalty to VCNB with 500 Anniversary rewards points. This will happen every year for the life of the account! Also be sure to check in with us periodically – we may offer future promotions for loan accounts.

Don’t have Rewards Checking? Learn more about this account here. Have an account but still need to sign up for UChoose Rewards? Click here to get started.

Earn Gift Cards With Rewards Checking

Posted on September 10, 2015 by vcnbfamily

Last year VCNB partnered with UChoose Rewards® to offer a new and improved program for earning rewards points using the VCNB Visa® Platinum credit card. This month we introduced a new product called Rewards Checking that allows our customers to earn rewards points on debit card transactions and other banking behaviors. Customers can link their Rewards Checking and Visa Platinum cards on one UChoose Rewards® account to accumulate points more quickly.

We have been elated with customer response to Rewards Checking and the new opportunities to earn points. We’ve told you about how to earn points but we haven’t talked about all the ways you can redeem those points.

Cash back, gift cards, event tickets and travel expenses are among the things customers can receive when they redeem points. Today we’re talking about some of the gift cards that are available at this time.

Gift cards are available for a large variety of restaurants, retail stores, gas stations, entertainment, electronics and travel. Here are just a few:

Phew! What a list! If you’re a Rewards Checking or VCNB Visa® Platinum customer, be sure to log in to the UChoose Rewards website and take a look at the rewards you can earn. The number of points necessary to redeem for a gift card varies depending on the value and type of card. For example, a $25 Applebee’s or Kohls gift card will each cost 2884 rewards points while a $50 Walmart card will cost 5974 points.

Visit us online or in your local office to open an account or to learn full account details. Already have a Rewards Checking account but need help registering for UChoose Rewards? Call our customer service department at 1.800.542.5004 or contact your local office.

Have You Heard About Rewards Checking?

Posted on September 4, 2015 by vcnbfamily

This is a big day here at VCNB. That’s because we have released a new product to our customers and frankly, we couldn’t be happier.

This week marks the debut of VCNB Rewards Checking. With Rewards Checking you can earn UChoose Rewards® points just doing what you always do – buying things with your debit or Platinum Visa® card and by using bank products.

We’ll give you points for having direct deposit, for automatic loan payments and for some other things you may already be doing with us. The more you use your card and the more VCNB products you use, the more points you will earn.

Points can be redeemed through UChoose for cash back, gift cards, travel, concert tickets and all sorts of other great things! Essentially, we’re rewarding you for your loyal business with VCNB!

Many of our employees have been testing Rewards Checking this summer and are thrilled with their points earnings. To reward you even more, we are offering 5,000 bonus points if you sign up for Rewards Checking before December 31, 2015.

There is a monthly service charge of $7 which will be imposed each statement cycle. However, you can receive a $7 credit to your account each statement cycle by either completing fifteen or more debit card transactions per statement cycle or by maintaining a combined monthly total deposit relationship of $5,000.

Want to sign up? It’s easy! If you are an existing VCNB customer, just contact an account representative and ask to switch. If you’re a new customer, you can sign up either online or at any of our seventeen bank locations. Once you have signed up for Rewards Checking, you will need to take just a few minutes to login to the UChoose Rewards website to register your debit card before you will begin earning points.

You can learn more about Rewards Checking and the 5,000 point promotion by clicking http://www.vintoncountybank.com/rewardschecking/.

What are you waiting for? Rewards Checking is HERE! Sign up today!

VCNB Fraud Department: Protecting Your Accounts

Posted on August 10, 2015 by vcnbfamily

Fraud is on the rise, putting every American at risk of becoming a victim. This is why the security of your VCNB accounts is our number one goal. In everything we do, every decision we make, we first consider the risk involved and how our actions will affect your security.

We have systems in place to keep your Debit/ATM card and your VCNB accounts safe and secure. To protect your account, we monitor your transactions for possible fraudulent activity 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

What is potential fraudulent activity? Some red flags include a string of expensive purchases inconsistent with your usual spending patterns or a sudden change of locale. We also look for patterns associated with new fraud trends around the world.

For example, if you purchase gasoline in Lancaster, Ohio just hours after a purchase is made in Florida, this would raise a red flag. A series of purchases for hundreds of dollars of merchandise may also be cause for concern.

If we suspect fraudulent activity, our monitoring agency will call you to verify the validity of your transactions. It is imperative that you respond to this call to prevent additional risk and avoid restrictions that we may place on your card for your protection.

If we contact you:

You will be contacted between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in your local time zone.
An automated call will ask you to verify recent activity on your card.
You will be able to respond via your touchtone keypad.
You will be provided a toll-free number to call if you have additional questions.

If we are unable to reach you, the transaction that triggered the suspected fraud may not be approved. Also, your card may be temporarily restricted to prevent your exposure to fraud.

It is imperative that we reach you if potential fraud is detected so please keep VCNB apprised of your correct contact information including home, cell and work phone numbers, email address and home address.

Also remember that our policy is to never solicit personal information via phone, email or text message. If someone contacts you requesting account information, your social security number, PIN, passwords or other personal information, do not provide this information.

If you are uncertain about the validity of a contact you receive from someone claiming to represent VCNB, please call our Customer Service Department at 1.800.542.5004 or the number on the back of your card.

Want to learn more? Stay tuned. Later this week we’ll talk about what you can do to protect yourself and your accounts from fraud.

Simplify Money Management With VCNB

Posted on August 4, 2015 by vcnbfamily

This week is National Simplify Your Life Week. That sounds nice but sometimes simplification is the hardest thing you can do. Between work and family, it often feels like a struggle to just keep everyone fed and on time for school.

Since much of your life hinges on money – paying bills on time, buying groceries, saving money and the piece of mind that comes with knowing these things are done – we want to give you a quick overview of how you can simplify your money.

If you’re a VCNB customer, you have access to several of things that will make your life easier thanks to Online Banking and VCNB Mobile. Accessing accounts electronically really is a lifesaver for a lot of our customers. Need to save money? You can automate it and forget it. Have trouble paying bills on time? You can automate those too! Do you sometimes overdraw your checking account? Get a balance alert via text or email when you go below a certain balance!

Here are some features that will simplify your life:

Save Money
Experts say you should save ten to fifteen percent of your income toward retirement. They also recommend having an emergency fund to help with life’s little surprises. But are you actually saving? Schedule on-demand transfers from your checking to your savings. Better yet, set up automatic transfers to ensure it is done regularly. Automatic transfers can be scheduled for any amount on any day of the month. Just set it up once and watch your balance grow!

Think you won’t be able to leave your savings alone? A lot of our customers use Christmas Club accounts as a means to save. Regular transfers are made from your checking or savings account into a Christmas Club account. Since there is a $20 fee to access those funds before the Christmas Club cycle finishes, most customers successfully reach their savings goal.

Track Money
Do you sometimes overdraw your account? Wonder if your direct deposit hit your account? Forget to make a loan payment? Set up account alerts for these things and more. There are nineteen different account alerts that can be sent via text or email. If you need a gentle reminder that your car payment is due or if you want to know that a check cleared, we will let you know!

Do you have a lot of plastic in your wallet? Between credit cards and store rewards cards, most Americans are carrying a lot of plastic. You can personalize your VCNB debit card to make it easy to find. Upload your own picture or use one of ours for a $5 annual fee! Locating your debit card has never been simpler!

Pay Bills and Spend
It’s a fact of life. Busy people often pay bills late. Whether it’s a lack of time or stamps, or simple forgetfulness, it’s easy to incur a late fee. Streamline your bills with Online Bill Pay. You can put your payments on autopilot and schedule them to pay the same day every month or you can manually schedule payments as needed. Either way, the service is free as long as you use it at least once a month. Otherwise, there is a $3 monthly fee.

If you use Online Bill Pay, you also have access to Popmoney ® personal payment service. Popmoney allows you to send money to anyone with just their email or mobile phone number. Best of all, other people can send you money too! So the next time you split the cost of a gift for your boss you can just send your share via Popmoney. If you buy concert tickets for the gang, they all can send your share to you! The cost is .50 per transaction for the person who sends the funds.

Save Time
Online and on your mobile device, you can save yourself time by checking balances, paying bills and keeping things straight. But did you know you can also save yourself a trip to the bank? Use our mobile app to deposit a check for just .50! You can do this by logging into your mobile account and taking a picture of the front and back of the check. CLICK HERE for complete instructions and details. (W/LINK TO WEBSITE)

Still write checks? You can reorder those online as well!

Keep Us Close
Keep us close – on your computer, on your mobile device, in branch or over the phone. You can also chat with our Customer Service Department during business hours. Just visit our website and click the Green Chat Now button to start a conversation!

Phew! That’s a long list! How do you use VCNB to simplify your life? Tell us in the comments section!

Home Ownership Starts Here

Posted on June 8, 2015 by vcnbfamily

Home Ownership Starts Here.

That’s the message on our billboards and much of our advertising this summer. It’s also a sentiment close to the heart of who we are as a bank. We have teams of people working hard to make your home buying process a success because we know it is important to you. We do our best to help as you start down the road to home ownership and all along the way.

Did you know that we’ve been in business for 148 years? We know a thing or two about financing homes. In fact, we have several mortgage lenders at VCNB with 30 or more years of experience. One thing we’ve learned in the last century and a half is that buying a home can be a stressful process for the prospective home owner. That’s why our lenders work diligently to provide tailored solutions that fit your needs and your budget, to put your mind at ease.

A small amount of customers have a type of loan in mind when they initially meet with their mortgage lender. They know that they prefer a fixed rate, would like to finance through an FHA loan or would like to look into shorter terms. However, most customers have no idea about the type of loan they would need to finance their home. All they know is that they found a home that is perfect for them and they want to buy it. Either way, by choosing VCNB, you can be sure your lender will work hard to find you the best loan for your individual home purchase.

In short, we are your one stop shop for a custom home financing experience, unique to you. Contact one of our experienced lenders today to talk about starting your home ownership the right way, the VCNB way. Prequalify by clicking here.

VCNB Can Help You Sleep Easier

Posted on June 4, 2015 by vcnbfamily

Does your money ever keep you awake at night? Maybe you can’t remember if you paid a bill on time. Maybe you aren’t sure how much money you have in the bank or are worried you don’t have enough money for an emergency situation. There are lots of money related scenarios that can ruin a perfectly good night’s rest. Luckily VCNB offers a number of services that will help you rest easy, at least where your money is concerned.

24 Hour Access
Thanks to technology like our website and mobile banking app, your accounts are accessible 24 hours a day from anywhere that you can use your computer, tablet or smart phone. Want to know if your payroll was deposited? Need to pay a bill or transfer funds from your checking to your savings? These are things you can easily do using our technology.

Automation
Some of our customers say they are just too busy to keep their bills on track. They can afford to pay their bills, they just forget. Then they incur late fees and risk damage to their credit rating because of it. With Online Bill Pay, you can schedule your bills to pay one at a time, giving you complete control and knowledge of just what’s happening with your money. But if you’re one of those people who struggle in this area, you can also automate those bills to pay on time month after month. Just schedule it and rest assured the payment will occur when you want it to.

Alerts
Maybe you want to know what’s happening with your money but don’t have a smart phone or wish not to log in to your account regularly. You can have account alerts sent via text or email for up to nineteen different reasons. We can notify you when a loan payment is due, when a check clears or when your account dips below a certain balance. We can even notify you every time a debit card linked to your account is swiped at a cash register. You choose the notifications you want to receive and how you want to receive them. We do the rest!

Fraud Prevention
In this age where so many criminals are out to steal your money, it is difficult to know who you can trust. Identity theft is a major threat to consumers and even major retailers with respected names are at risk of a security breech. The fraud detection departments associated with our debit and credit cards are fantastic. They stay on top of national trends and potential threats to you, the individual customer. While we can’t guarantee you won’t be a victim of fraud, our card departments do everything they can to prevent it from happening to you when you use our cards. With our cards, we have 24-hour fraud monitoring so, while you sleep, someone is looking out for you.

Emergency Fund Services
One main cause of money worries is the fear of emergency. Whether it’s something major like job loss or something small like a new set of tires, any unexpected emergency can be a threat to your financial well-being. We can help you consider the options for an emergency fund. Some customers have a savings account where they regularly deposit money for such events. We can help you open a savings account and even help you set up automatic transfers into your savings from another account. Some of our customers opt to rely on a credit card in emergencies. We can help with that too.

Stop by your local branch and talk to one of our experienced accounts representatives about the money worries that keep you awake at night. We would love to help!

VCNB Family

Our Family Serving Your Family Since 1867

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