I-TEAM: Who’s investigating VyStar and is your money safe?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As the VyStar outage continues, customers are asking the News4JAX I-TEAM if their money is safe in a VyStar account.

Company officials say yes, but many account holders are not convinced.

With more than 800,000 members, the Jacksonville-based credit union reports that it handles $12 billion in assets.

That’s a lot of money during an uncertain time.

VyStar leaders continue to tell customers that they have not been hacked and that their money is safe.

There are two agencies overseeing credit unions including VyStar:

  • The Florida Office of Financial Regulation, a state agency
  • The National Credit Union Administration, a federal agency

Spokespeople at both agencies tell the I-TEAM they continue to monitor the situation very closely.

The NCUA protects account holders at credit unions with something called the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund. That means every person’s account is insured up to $250,000.

A rep said because of this, credit union members “have never lost even a penny of insured savings.”

On the state side, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis sent News4JAX this statement:

“My top priority is consumer protection and my office has been in touch with VyStar and they assure us they are working diligently to remedy issues with their online and mobile banking systems. My office will continue to monitor this situation closely. Consumers should document any signs of fraud or unusual credit activity and contact the Office of Financial Regulation to report it immediately.”

VyStar is a member-owned institution, so customers have ownership.

That means a board of directors oversees the operations and the executives. The board has the power to promote, demote, or fire an executive. So far, no action has been taken.

As regulators are keeping a close eye on what’s happening with your money, so is News4JAX. The I-TEAM has requested complaints filed against VyStar. We’ll bring any complaints we receive to you on News4JAX.


About the Author:

Lifetime Jacksonville resident anchors the 8 and 9 a.m. weekday newscasts and is part of the News4Jax I-Team.