Merry Christmas

On behalf of all the employees at Leading Edge Credit Union, I would like to thank our members and supporters for another great year! Working this time of year is especially rewarding. The atmosphere in the branches are filled with joy as members alike bring Christmas greetings and stories of how they plan to celebrate Christmas. Candies and treats are a plenty as people acknowledge their appreciation of the employees by dropping off goodies. Christmas also provides that opportunity to socialize more and break traditional work routines which is always welcomed.

I would like to thank the membership for completing our online survey and acknowledging their overall satisfaction with Leading Edge Credit Union at 96%. This is a wonderful indication that we are meeting the expectations and needs of our membership. In response to a continuous high member satisfaction ranking, a decision was made to close the branches on Christmas Eve, allowing the employees to be with their families. The response from our membership has been extremely positive and again we thank you for your support in this decision.

On Behalf of all employees and board members, have a Merry Christmas and New Year!

Co-operatively Yours,

Cory Munden

What is a Credit Union?

52 Week Money Challenge--"Borrowed" What a Great Idea

I plan on grabbing a money jar and doing this with the kids starting today!

Cory...enjoy and share if you think this is a great idea.

52 Week Money Challenge

Categories:

Community, Education, Personal

by Martin Williams

Happy New Year! I hope you are excited about all the fabulous and amazing things that’s going to happen for you this year! You know my motto…Speak over yourself! Expect the great and put the work in! I wanted to share something that I found on Facebook. Kossandra Moreland of Union City, California shared this amazing savings plan and idea for her friends. Now I’m not sure who the original author is of this plan but it has gone viral and being shared all over social media.

One of my goals this year, sidebar: you see I said “goals” and not resolutions was to come up with a personal savings plan. Now I already put one in place through my bank, but this one right here I saw and think its just absolutely fun to do and something that everyone can join in on.

It’s called the 52 Week Money Challenge Plan. For example, there are 52 weeks in a year. So each week you deposit the number of the week that were in a savings account. For example this is the 1st week of 2013, so you will deposit $1.00 into your savings account. Next week will be Week 2, so you will deposit $2, and so on. The biggest amount you will deposit is $52.00 and that will be the very last week of 2013. Now isn’t that simple and easy?! There’s no club to join, no pyramids, meetings, schemes, none of that crap that “Ain’t Nobody Got Time For”! You are investing in yourself! I’m going to do it and I’m excited about. This is the year where we have to put the time and work in so that we can have different results. I don’t want to get to the end of this year and can’t see, feel, or be the change in the words of My Friend LaTrice Pace.
I hope you will join me

Join The Facebook Group Here! www.facebook.com/groups/344214249020179/ I spoke with Ms. Moreland about what motivated her to do this plan and she said:, “I am a single parent, and I have worked at my job for 22 years. I just worked 53 hours alone in this payperiod and do this all of the time. I decided that this is the year that I will have something to show for working all of those hours instead of just bills left over at the end of the year.I work better if I am held accountable, even in my personal life, so I decided to see how many of my friends would be honest and say they needed help with a structured savings plan, and even if they don’t would they help me. I had no idea that it wold turn into what it has in just the last two hours.
I’ve heard from others who have done programs like this for years and they have seen the difference and change!
My thing is we have to break it down where its EASY and not HARD. It has to be something that everyone can do at any level! Now I do understand that some are able to do more and that’s perfectly fine, however the object of this is just to start somewhere. It’s not suppose to be rocket science or to compete with anybody or any other type of program.

If your mailbox looks like this!

If Holiday bills are arriving in the mail and they are causing you some post Christmas blues, it's now a perfect time to review your credit debt. The way you are financing your revolving credit purchases maybe costing you thousands annually. Many consumers pay little attention to the way they choose to finance small ticket items. Christmas provides the right avenue to overspend and make poor financing decisions. The most common poor decision is to place a purchase on a retail store issued credit card. Most retail operations charge on average 28% interest rate. These rates will extend the length of time it takes to payout the debt as more of your payment will go towards interest. Another common mistake is failing to plan. Many people place Christmas purchases on a credit card because they failed to plan to save in the first place. Christmas is an expensive Holiday; we are all mindful of it and therefore should plan to save for the occasion. At Leading Edge Credit Union, we have a super savings product that automatically withdrawal funds from your bank account and places it in this special savings product. This forced savings plan is great, and allows for an accumulation of funds for when you need it.
It's simply time for a financial checkpoint! Many people ask me questions around paying down debt versus savings, etc. Every situation is unique and different, and most commonly I advise to pay down your high interest accounts first. This may mean that you will have to start fresh with a personal loan to reduce your interest rate on your debt. Once you restructure your debt in a new product it is very important to remove access to future credit with the high interest provider. There is no need to have a retail credit card or multiple credit lines if you have a savings plan. With a new restructured loan, develop a savings strategy to place funds aside for those purchases you know are looming in the future. I find the super savings account great and open one every year to fund my Christmas purchases.

 

$5000 loan over 5 years

 Here is an example of how much interest you could save by restructuring your debt. This example showcases how restructuring $5000 over 5 years using three different interest rates. The Blue column is the typical retail store credit card and indicates that $5000 would cost you approximately $4513 in interest over 5 years. The Red column is reflective of the average financial institution credit card and indicates interest charges of $2782 over 5 years. The green column showcases a typical consolidation loan at 9% which would cost about $1227 in interest charges over 5 years. If a consumer chooses to pay off a retail credit card with a balance of $5000 via a consolidation loan at a 9% interest rate, they could save approximately $3300 in interest charges. As stated above the key to making such a decision is to then set up a savings plan and remove access to high cost of credit products.

 
If you are interested in starting fresh and restructuring your debt situation give your local credit union branch a call. The savings are immediate with a simple phone call! I should also advise that in this example, in order to pay off the loan at 28% in five years a payment would be $159.00, compared to $103 on a consolidation loan!