• What’s a Credit Union?
• Who owns a credit union?
• How did credit unions start?
• What is the purpose of a credit union?
• Are savings deposits insured?
• Who can join a credit union?
• Virtual Branch Frequently Asked Questions
• Once I enroll for home banking, how do I access the system?
• How secure is the home banking service?
• I was in the system and it brought me back to the login page with the error message that I had been
• I tried to logon to the system and I received a message that my ID was already logged on. How can I be already logged on when I’m not in the system?
• I was connected to the application earlier today, but am unable to connect again. The error message indicates it is unable to locate the server. What do I do?
• Bill Payment Q: How can I tell if a payment was processed electronically or was mailed as a physical check?
• Bill Payment Q: I noticed that after I schedule a payment or transfer, I am provided a confirmation number. Does this number mean my transaction has been processed?

What’s a Credit Union?
A credit union is a cooperative, not-for-profit financial institution organized to promote thrift and provide credit to members. It is member-owned and controlled through a board of directors elected by the membership. The board serves on a volunteer basis and may hire a management team to run the credit union. The board also establishes and revises policy, sets dividend and loan rates, and directs certain operations. The result: members are provided with a safe, convenient place to save and borrow at reasonable rates at an institution which exists to benefit them, not to make a profit.
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Who owns a credit union?
Most financial institutions are owned by stockholders, who own a part of the institution and intend on making money from their investment. A credit union doesn't operate in that manner. Rather, each credit union member owns one "share" of the organization. The user of credit union services is also an owner, and is even entitled to vote on important issues, such as the election of member representatives to serve on the board of directors.
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How did credit unions start?
The first credit union cooperatives started in Germany over a century ago. Today, credit unions are found everywhere in the world. The credit union movement started in this country in Manchester, New Hampshire. There, the St. Mary's Cooperative Credit Association, a church-affiliated credit union, opened its doors in 1909. Today, one in every three Americans is a credit union member.
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What is the purpose of a credit union?
The primary purpose in furthering their goal of service is to encourage members to save money. Another purpose is to offer loans to members. In fact, credit unions have traditionally made loans to people of ordinary means. Credit unions can charge lower rates for loans (as well as pay higher dividends on savings) because they are nonprofit cooperatives. Rather than paying profits to stockholders, credit unions return earnings to members in the form of dividends or improved services.

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Are savings deposits insured?
Yes. All savings accounts are insured up to $250,000 by the NCUA, the National Credit Union Administration, an agency of the federal government. IRAs are insured up to an additional $250,000.
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Who can join a credit union?
A credit union exists to serve a specific group of people, such as a group of employees or the members of a professional or religious group. This is called a "field of membership." The field of membership may include where they live, where they work, or their membership in a social or economic group.

Dow Great Western Credit Union's field of membership permits employees and retirees of Dow Chemical Company, its subsidiaries and their family members to join. Additionally, anyone living or working in the local communities of Antioch and Pittsburg and members of the Chambers of Commerce of Antioch and Pittsburg may become members of Dow Great Western Credit Union.
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Virtual Branch Frequently Asked Questions
Please see the Q and A below
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Once I enroll for home banking, how do I access the system?
To log onto the system you will always be prompted to provide a User ID and a Security Code. Your User ID will be the full nine digits of your social security number, no dashes or spaces. The first time you enter the system, your Security Code will be the last four numbers of your social security number which you will be prompted to change upon logging on to the system. For Current Code you will enter the last four numbers of your social security numbers again. For your New Code, you must enter a series of numbers only (no letters) and the series should consist of at least four numbers, no more than eight. For Verify Code, you will need to re-enter the New Code you have selected and then click "OK" At that point you should be advised that your Security Code has been successfully changed.
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How secure is the home banking service?
The home banking service is highly secure. We have incorporated state-of-art-security into our electronic banking service and it is protected under the latest and most powerful firewall platform. This platform is based on a government-rated B1 trusted operating system and defends against every kind of system intrusion and effectively isolates all but approved customer financial requests.
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I was in the system and it brought me back to the login page with the error message that I had been
This is a security feature designed for your protection. Generally, if 10 minutes elapse without a request from you for anything from our home banking system (exclusive of help), then the system ends your session and you must logon again. This approach helps prevent others from performing transactions on your computer in the event that you forget to properly exit the system.
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I tried to logon to the system and I received a message that my ID was already logged on. How can I be already logged on when I’m not in the system?
You will receive this message if you have improperly exited the system. As a security feature, the system "lock you out" if you perform any of the following actions while in the home banking system:
•Double clicking
•Using the Enter key on your keyboard to select functions instead of using your mouse
•Closing out of the program by selecting Exit or Close from the File menu
•Closing out of the program by clicking on the "X" on your browser.
The proper way to exit our system is to select the "Exit" icon located in our site, just to the right of the page heading. After 10 -15 minutes, the system will release your ID and you will be able to logon again.

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I was connected to the application earlier today, but am unable to connect again. The error message indicates it is unable to locate the server. What do I do?
First, confirm that you are able to access other sites successfully. If not, contact your Internet Service Provider for assistance. Second, confirm that the URL address you typed is correct, and that you specified HTTPS (not HTTP) at the beginning. If that doesn’t correct the problem, then it may mean that the home banking site has unexpectedly gone off-line. In this case, please contact customer service for assistance, or simply try your request again at a later time.
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Bill Payment Q: How can I tell if a payment was processed electronically or was mailed as a physical check?
When you try to schedule a payment, you will be prompted to setup your payment to process two or five business days (excluding weekends and holidays) prior to your statement due date (not your Grace Period date). If you receive the two day prompt your payment will process electronically, and if you receive the five day prompt, your payment will be processed as a physical check which will be transmitted to the merchant through the US Mail. The decision whether a payment will process electronically or go into the mail, is determined solely by the merchant. Some merchants do not accept electronic payments or do not accept our form of electronic payment. In this case, the payment is processed as a physical check and transmitted via the US Mail.
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Bill Payment Q: I noticed that after I schedule a payment or transfer, I am provided a confirmation number. Does this number mean my transaction has been processed?
A confirmation number indicates that we have received instructions to process a specific transaction. It does not guarantee that this transaction has been processed. To ensure that a payment or transfer has been processed, consult your payment/transfer history once the time period for the transaction to be processed has elapsed.
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