1. FINANCIAL ELDER ABUSE for Newfoundland and Labrador Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse October 20, 2014

2. WHO WE ARE ? Full Service Financial Institution Products include Regular Savings, High Interest Savings, Term Deposit, TFSA, RRSP, RRIF, Personal Loans and Mortgages Business since 1965 Membership 3900, Total Assets to Sept. 2014, 71million Credit Unions were voted for the 10 th consecutive year as highest in Customer Service among all Financial Institutions in Canada Low staff turnover and we pride ourselves on knowing our members

3. WHAT IS FINANCIAL ABUSE? “Financial abuse is the illegal or unauthorized use of someone else’s money or property. It includes pressuring someone for money or property.” (Ontario Seniors Secretariat) Today, I am here to talk about what EasternEdge Credit Union is doing about education and recognition of financial abuse within our membership.

4. POSSIBLE INDICATORS Unusual withdrawals Overdrawn accounts Joint accounts Power of Attorney

5. ACTIONS UNUSUAL ACTIVITY Checking behind the scenes looking for unusual activity including larger or higher than normal ATM withdrawals, and purchases. OVERDRAWN ACCOUNTS Reviewing reports everyday for overdrafts. If an overdrawn account is not normal for a particular member we may contact that member to ensure they are aware of the overdraft.

6. ACTIONS JOINT ACCOUNTS When a member comes in to make an account joint, with someone other than their spouse, we do this by appointment in an office setting. When the member arrives we invite him/her, without the proposed joint party, into the office where we explain what it means to add a joint party to their account. When this is complete, and the member wishes to proceed we invite the proposed joint party to join us to complete the documents.

7. ACTIONS POWER OF ATTORNEY We will only accept a Power of Attorney document that has been prepared by a lawyer. We will not act immediately. We make a copy, certify it as a true copy of the original. We make an effort to contact the lawyer who prepared the document to ensure that it is still valid. We review the document, if there is something we are not familiar with we contact our lawyer for guidance. We are not lawyers so we rely on their opinion.

8. BARRIERS When we suspected there was abuse occurring we always felt our hand were tied, However, with the new Adult Protection Act this has been made easier. When making accounts joint, not sure if total understanding of what that means even when it is explained. Power of Attorney, there could be more than one so how do you identify which one is valid. To the best of my knowledge there are no registries in Canada for Power of Attorney.