SafeAmerica Credit Union

Alameda County

• By Kevin Alvarez

America Saves Week – Save By Reducing Debt

One of the greatest contributors to financial stress is debt. If you're having a tough time financially, it can feel isolating, but the truth is 80 percent of Americans have consumer debt. The only way to relieve financial stress is to make a plan and work your way through it. But to make that plan, you'll need to understand the type of debt you have, your best-case scenario to pay down your debt, and how to leverage your knowledge so that you can maintain or increase your credit score. When you reduce your debt, you save in the long run — on late fees, interest, and a higher credit score, which will lower interest rates.

Get A Clear View Of Your Finances

You thought we'd say budget first, didn't you? While creating a spending and savings plan (our preferred term over "budget") is essential, the true value in having a plan is clarity. When you know your exact income and expenses, you can better steward the discretionary income left over after your bills are paid. It will become easier for you to decide how much to spend, if you can put more toward debt, what goes into savings, and whether to begin making investments. Your spending and savings plan will also highlight areas that need attention.

For example, is your grocery allocation adequate? Are all of your subscriptions and recurring monthly expenses still necessary, or can any be canceled? Knowing where all of your money is coming from and going to helps you build financial confidence and shows you where you can afford to reduce your debt and begin building wealth.

If you need support with making a spending and savings plan, we've created a straightforward tool that will help!

Work With What You Have

When you're paying down your debt, one conscious decision to adopt is to stop adding to your debt. This step may seem intuitive, but there are circumstances where the urge to just "charge it" may arise.

Many "Buy Now, Pay Later" options are becoming increasingly popular. Though it may feel like it is not, options like Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm are debt and should be treated as such.

As you work to pay off your credit cards, here's a word of advice: do not close your credit cards!

Closing your credit card accounts may reduce your credit score, as the "age" of your credit factors into your FICO score. By keeping your card open with a $0 balance, you'll have a longer credit history and a larger amount of available credit. The only time you may want to consider canceling a card is if it has pricey annual fees.

Increase Your Income

If you can, consider increasing your income temporarily, allowing you to put more money towards your debt. This will allow you to pay down your debt faster! There are so many options to get a quick cash injection or additional income in today's economy. Some ideas include selling items around your home you no longer use, purging your closet on sites like thredUp, leveraging a talent or skill you have, like tutoring or singing, to offer as a service, or taking advantage of the booming gig economy.

Paying It Off For Good Starts With A Decision

There are many strategies to use when working toward paying off your debt. The most popular strategies include the snowball method or the avalanche method. By deciding which method you want to use beforehand, you will reap the benefits of paying it off faster.

Snowball Method

"Snowballing" your debt is a type of accelerated debt repayment plan. First, list all of your debts from the smallest balance to the largest balance. Next, make the minimum payment on all your debt except the smallest one. With your smallest debt, you will put as much money as you can toward the balance. Once the smallest debt is paid, take the amount you were putting towards that debt and apply it to the next smallest. With this method, interest rates are not the focus.

Avalanche Method

With the "avalanche" method, you will still make the minimum payments on every source of debt, but you apply the remaining funds toward the debt with the highest interest rate. By paying off the debt with the highest interest rate first, you reduce the overall amount of interest you pay.

Making extra payments allows you to pay off your loan(s) more quickly when paying toward installment loans, like your car payment. Just be sure to specify that any additional funds outside of your monthly payment go toward the principal. Before you begin making extra payments to installment loans, check the terms of your loan to determine whether additional fees or prepayment penalties may apply.

Regardless of how you decide to reduce your debt, let America Saves be your savings accountability partner! Take the America Saves Pledge and choose “reduce debt” as your savings goal. We'll support you by sending email and text reminders, resources, and tips to keep you on track towards paying down your debt.

Make the Pledge

By accessing this link, you will be leaving SafeAmerica's website and entering a website hosted by another party.

Although SafeAmerica has approved this as a reliable partner site, please be advised that you will no longer be subject to, or under the protection of, the privacy and security policies of the bank's website. The other party is solely responsible for the content of its website.

We encourage you to read and evaluate the privacy and security policies on the site you are entering, which may be different than those of the bank.

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• By Kevin Alvarez

The 12 Scams of Christmas

Shopping online during the holiday season is extremely convenient, so long as you don't fall victim to any of the 12 Scams of Christmas.

Thanksgiving has successfully served as a great distraction from the “New Normal” we have been dealt with. The good thing about the holiday season is having major holidays back to back with a short intermission in between. During this intermission, many take the time to try and finalize their holiday shopping before reuniting with their family and loved ones. Finding the best deals used to be about leaving to your favorite department store to “beat the lines”. Remember a time when people would camp outside of stores for Black Friday deals? Unfortunately with the sudden change in times due to uncontrollable forces, society has pivoted to increasing its use of smart devices/computers to complete transactions which would usually be done in a physical location.

Need a meal? You can get one delivered to you that isn’t pizza. Need groceries? You can get that delivered too, and so on. Retailers have had to adjust in the same manner as the food industry, to accommodate the demands of consumers. While it’s always great to see companies changing their processes to better serve their customers, many scammers are taking advantage of the multiple trends currently present, to attempt to fool shoppers into sending them money or valuable items.

Based on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Risk Index and reports submitted to BBB Scam Tracker in 2020, the 10 riskiest scams listed in Table 1 pose the most significant risks to consumers.

 

The current affairs of what has happened throughout the Bay Area and Los Angeles has further encouraged shoppers to shop online and with this, an increase probability of coming across a scam online. Scammers are using the social pressure of getting the best “deal” to have distracted consumers easily fall into their online traps. As mentioned before in blogs from earlier days of the pandemic, scamming activity has increased dramatically since March of 2020 and the holiday season is a feeding frenzy for scammers everywhere.

People ages 18-24 had the same median dollar loss ($150) as that of ages 65+ ($150) (Figure 5).

Below is a list of 12 trends the BBB has compiled to help inform consumers of the malpractices used to steal from people who are online.

1. Misleading Social Media Advertisements

After tailoring in their target demographics, scammers have been posing as small businesses and/or charities to win over consumers through an emotional tie-in. When consumers “buy” their goods, they are often reported to the BBB to receive counterfeit goods or even unwanted reoccurring charges for “free trial offers”. You can read more about misleading ads here: Misleading Ads

2. Social Media Gift Exchanges

Gift exchanges have always seem to work best in person, but with everything switching over to online, an online gift exchange seems doable right? Well, there are a few going through the internet that state if you send one gift, you could receive up to 36! As most can share, if it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is NOT true. This scam works like this: A friend or family member from your social media network sends you a message to sign up to participate in a “fun program”. You just need to provide your personal information such as contact information and address, (FYI since 2017 raw personal data is worth more than raw oil) along with personal information of a few of your friends and information of other gift exchange participants. After doing so, you would have to send a gift to one of the “other gift exchange participants”. At the end of it all, you “gifted a stranger” something and added to a list of personal information, which most likely will be sold to other scammers to try to take from you. You can read more about them here: Social Media Gift Exchanges

3. Holiday Smart Device Applications (Apps)

The Apple App Store and the Google Play store have lots of interesting apps and one can easily fall into the rabbit hole of apps that you may deem of use, but how many of the apps you already have downloaded do you already use on a consistent basis? What data is being collected from you? Some apps require you to purchase them before you download.  Typically when paying for an app, you won’t be seeing much or even any advertisements from within the app. However, free apps tend to have an overwhelming amount of advertisements, collect data and habits of the user and more often than not, force users to watch a “short video” to either claim in-app currency or continue to play/participate with the app. There are some situations in which the advertisements are inappropriate to younger users. So how does all this information tie in to our list? Well there are numerous holiday-themed apps which are aimed at children, these apps “provide” youth the opportunity to video chat live with Santa Claus, watch Mr. Claus feed his reindeer live, monitor his sleigh’s location on Christmas eve and even share their holiday wish lists to the north pole. Make sure to update your smart devices to require a password to allow app downloads, thus forcing your little ones to ask for your permission which in-turn allows you to read reviews and make the final call of approval. To read more about holiday apps, click here: Holiday Apps

4. Alerts About Compromised Accounts

These days everyone has a digital subscription or consumer relationship with a tech giant or two or three or more. Since the shift to digital, scammers have been posing as big businesses and either calling, texting or emailing in regards to the recipients accounts being compromised. No matter how you receive this notification, the scammer will use the company’s logo, colors and language to try and create an official alert. What follows, is a link to a website posing as the legitimate company that may ask you to log in using your account number, username/password and even your social security number. Entering this information could cause you to be a victim of fraud, especially when your private information has been given to the scammer. If you receive a call and something seems off about the situation, its best to hang up and call the company through a number that is from a legitimate source. There are even tactics that allow scammers to call under a number that the company may use. If you receive such text or email communication, rather than following any links, go to the organizations legitimate website and find their contact information to verify your accounts status. To read more about compromised accounts, click here: Compromised Accounts Scams

5. Gift Cards

There are a handful of websites and online vendors which sell gift cards legitimately, but as with everything, there are always a few bad apples waiting to be picked. When buying online, verify the website you are using is legitimate, it is always best to buy directly from the merchant’s website. There are also websites that claim to check your gift card’s balance. While convenient in hindsight, there is a possibility of the site taking your gift cards information, especially if they ask for your PIN/security code for your card. A solution would be to check the balance inside a major grocery store chain. Even when purchasing a gift card in-store, there are some important things to keep an eye out for; are any sensitive numbers (like the PIN/security number) exposed? Are there any tears or physical signs of tampering anywhere on the packaging of the card? To read more about gift cards, click here: Gift Card Scams

6. Temporary Holiday Jobs

The holiday season always brings the opportunity to find work. This year, with the combination of supply chain issues and everyone trying to order their gifts in time for the holidays, delivery and shipping services are the top holiday employers. These jobs which may be seasonal often provide the opportunity to employ for the long term. So with this in mind, scammers use the avenue of employment opportunity to steal important personal information from people looking for work. There are numerous tactics used by scammers, some are asking prospective employees to provide payment for job supplies, application, background check and/or training fees. This payment is what they take from you. You should never have to pay and the company should be able to provide resources not the other way around. Another popular scammer tactic is “employers” claiming to pay big amounts of money for “simple” office tasks. These situations are often scammers trying to collect masses of personal information, which may result in some fraud further down the line. To read more about temporary holiday jobs, click here: Temporary Holiday Jobs

7. Look-Alike Websites

Scammers impersonating websites have continued to be a convincing method in which people fall for. Similar to number one on this list (Misleading Social Media Ads), these fake websites are made to look like the legitimate company’s version, such as having the same layout as the legitimate counterpart but with the intention of having unsuspecting people make a payment or even trick people into downloading malware onto their personal computers. To learn more about look-alike websites, click here: Look-Alike Websites

8. Fake Charities

According to the Better Business Bureau, did you know 40% of all charitable donations are done within the last few weeks of the year? With the abrupt transition to using digital services stemmed from the pandemic, many charitable organizations have shifted from in-person fundraising to directing donors to help make a difference via online drives. It is recommended to avoid making donations to unfamiliar organizations online unless you can verify it is from a reliable and legitimate organization. To learn more about fake charities, click here: Fake Charity Scams

9. Fake Shipping Notifications

Due to the never ending status of current events, most shoppers have been keeping all in-person activities down to a minimum and have completed their holiday purchases via their favorite online retailers. Doing so, has brought in an influx of scammers sending out “notifications” regarding shipping details and updates. These are phishing attempts which have unsuspecting victims click on malicious links that permit unwanted access to your device and access to your personal information. To learn more about fake shipping notifications, click here: Fake Shipping Notification Scams

10. Fake Pop-Up Holiday Virtual Events

Many local holiday themed events and activities have shifted to online video based events. This means more and more social media event posts and emails. Scammers have been replicating online content to promote an online event that charges to attend. Scammers “charge” for holiday virtual events with the goal of acquiring credit card information to steal. These type of events are legitimate if organized by a city’s community development department, which provides an avenue to verify the event via their direct online website(s). Local community events hosted officially by cities more often than not, do not charge to attend/participate. To learn more about pop-up holiday virtual events, click here: Pop-Up Virtual Holiday Scams

11. Top Holiday Wish-List Items

One doesn’t need to search online for long to find what has been a sought-after item this holiday season. The latest gaming consoles, designer apparel and toys have been sought after from the start of the pandemic and have provided a crooked opportunity for scammers to “sell” these hot items online. Many reports from the BBB Scam Tracker show consumer complaints regarding phony deals and the inability to contact the seller after making their purchase online. To learn more about how the top holiday wish list items scams work, click here: Top Holiday Wish List Items Scams

12. Puppy Scams

During the pandemic, many have looked into adding a four legged furry friend to their family, unfortunately this new demand has put an extremely competitive search online. As with any other trends, scammers are taking advantage by claiming to sell puppy’s and trying to have people send over money before even seeing how the supposed pups look. Be extra vigilant when you come across any type of pet advertisements, the Better Business Bureau shares 80% of online pet ads may be fake. It is recommended to visit the legitimate website of your local animal shelter to search for any available animals up for adoption. Vaccines are typically given to animals in shelters so it would be one less thing for you to worry about. To learn more about puppy scams, click here: Puppy Scams

 

To provide a real world example of just how close to home these above mentioned scams can get, below we have a local press release from the Alameda County District Attorney, Nancy E. O'Malley:

This unfortunate real world event falls under number 4 from our list above, Alerts on Compromised Accounts. To read directly from the District Attorney's website, click here: Alameda Zelle Scam Alert

To learn more preventative tips for staying safe while browsing the internet, visit the Better Business Bureau's website and stay informed of what scams are affecting your community and the communities around you by using the BBB Scam Tracker.

• By Kevin Alvarez

What to Know About the Child Tax Credit

Information brought to you by our partner, GreenPath Financial Wellness

Families with dependent children are about to receive advanced payments as part of the American Rescue Plan’s expansion of the Child Tax Credit.

On average, families who claim the Child Tax Credit for 2021 will receive up to $3,000 per qualifying child per year, paid out in monthly installments.  A qualifying child is between 6 and 17 years old at the end of 2021. For those with a qualifying child under age 6 at the end of 2021, they will receive $3,600 per year, paid out in monthly installments.

The official dates for the 2021 monthly direct cash payments are: July 15, Aug. 13, Sept. 15, Oct. 15, Nov. 15 and Dec. 15.

Families are eligible to receive advance Child Tax Credit payments based on their 2020 tax return or 2019 tax, families generally will receive those payments automatically without needing to take any additional action.

Meal Preparation with kids during COVID-19

RESOURCES AVAILABLE

Your Family Budget

Families set to receive the advanced monthly payments starting in July might be weighing what to do with the money. How will the funds best be used? Will you use the payments for immediate family needs? Put it away for any family emergencies that might come up?

A good place to start when it comes to assessing how to use the advanced child tax credits is to look at a family’s entire financial picture. Families might consider asking the following questions:

  • How much does the family have in emergency savings?
  • Does the family have any high-interest debt (credit cards, loans, other debt) to pay off?
  • What other major expenses are coming up and how will the family pay for the them?
  • Does the family have the need for any upcoming home repair, car repair, medical expenses?

The Power of a Plan

Setting a plan can be helpful when it comes to managing these advanced funds.

Advanced payments can be used to make a significant difference in a family’s entire financial situation.  It could be a way to make a major dent in credit card debt, or a way to be able to build some family emergency savings that many struggle to build throughout the year with a paycheck.

To get started, GreenPath offers a simple spending plan worksheet to jump-start the family budgeting process.

To help understand your best options, visit our GreenPath  page to learn how you can receive a free financial counseling session. As an example, some families might want to opt-out of the scheduled advanced payments and instead receive one lump sum child tax payment in 2021. If that payment plan makes sense, people will need to select that option in the IRS online portal.

What’s the best path for your family? When you contact GreenPath, you will be guided through a process to assess your financial picture and create an action plan to address your specific situation when it comes to managing the advanced payments.

GreenPath’s certified, caring counselors listen with respect, offer advice and information, and work with you every step of the way.

For more Financial tips and education, visit GreenPath Financial Wellness.
Learn More

• By Kevin Alvarez

The 5 Factors That Affect Your Credit Score (And Simple Ways to Boost Them!)

Information is brought to you by our partner, GreenPath Financial Wellness

Whether you’re looking to get your first credit card for everyday expenses or take out a mortgage to purchase your first home, credit is an essential tool for helping people to meet their financial goals.

When applying for a line of credit, the higher your credit score, the more likely you will be to qualify, and the more options you will have available to you.

Here, we’ll breakdown the 5 factors that affect your credit — in order of most heavily weighted to least—and the simple  yet effective steps you can take to give your score a boost.

Understand Your Current Credit SnapShot.

Federal law requires each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies -Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion -provide you a free credit report every 12 months if you ask for it. While these reports don't contain your actual score, they can be very helpful in identifying what might be affecting it (as well as any inaccurate information that may need correcting). Request yours at annualcreditreport.com.

1. Payment History (35%)

Payment history is the biggest single factor used to calculate your credit score. Late payments (even a couple of days), past due accounts, and accounts in collections all have a negative impact on your credit. Regular, on-time payment of the minimum amount (or greater) will improve your credit score. A non-time payment history in the range of 18 months or longer will begin to show results in a growing credit score.

Set up automatic payments.

If your late payments are due to forgetfulness, this is the easiest way to ensure you never miss a future payment.

Change your billing due date.

Suppose you have multiple bills due on the same day of the month. In that case, it may be worth changing your payment due date to align better with your personal situation (e.g.,spacing out bills to make them more manageable, or ensuring your payment date is after an income deposit date.)

Explore hardship/deferment options.

If you’re having trouble making ends meet, call your creditors and request a forbearance or payment deferral. They may also be able to waive late fees or even allow a lower payment for a period of time.

2. Amount Owed (30%)

Your credit utilization is determined by the amount you owe—not relative to your income but, compared to the total credit limit available to you, expressed as a percentage.(For example, if your card balance is $600 and you have a spending limit of $2,500, your credit utilization is $600/$2,500 or 24%.) As a rule of thumb, your credit utilization should be no more than 30.

Quick Tips for Improving Amount Owed:

Pay down your balance early.

If you can make small payments throughout the month, this can help keep your balance down and lower your credit utilization.

Decrease spending.

Find areas where you can cut back on spending to lower your utilization. Our Prioritizing Expenses Worksheet can help you to determine what to cut.

Ask for a credit line increase.

Increasing your credit limit is the simplest way to decrease your credit utilization with out having to cut back on spending.

3. Length of Credit History (15%)

Although not the most heavily weighted category, the length of a borrower’s credit history is important. It’s an indication to the financial institutions what kind of borrower you maybe in the future. In addition to the overall time an individual has had credit accounts open, credit history is also determined by how long specific types of accounts have been open, and how long it’s been since those accounts have been used.

Quick Tips for Improving Credit History:

Get a secured credit card.

Backed by a cash deposit, a secured credit card can be an excellent low-risk way for those who have not had a credit card previously to start building credit.

Keep credit cards open.

Closing a credit card can negatively affect your score. If you have cards you aren’t using, placing a small recurring charge on them (such as a phone bill or streaming subscription) can help to keep the card active while keeping your overall credit utilization low.

4. Credit Mix (10%)

Credit mix is determined by looking at the types of credit you are carrying (this includes credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, mortgage loans,etc.) as well as your payment history in each area.

Quick Tips for Improving Mix:

Explore loan options that work best for you.

Your credit mix isn’t the most impactful category, and you shouldn’t pursue loans unless they make sense for you and your personal needs. In fact, you may already have a fair credit mix—things like credit cards, personal loans, auto loans, and mortgage loans are all considered different types of credit.

Make sure you pay loans on time.

A good credit mix is moot if you aren’t making timely payments–ensure you are making at least the minimum payments on your outstanding loans each month.

5. New Credit (10%)

Research shows that opening several credit accounts in a short amount of time represents a more significant risk—especially for people who don’t have an established credit history.

Quick Tips for New Credit:

Open new credit accounts only as needed.

Every time you apply for a new credit card,this creates a hard inquiry on your credit,which will automatically lower your score. Having more credit than needed can also encourage unnecessary spending and lead to increased debt.

Understand how hard inquiries show upon your report for different types of loans.

While multiple inquiries over a short time frame for credit cards may result insignificant score damage, other types of inquiries—such as home or auto loans—are reported a little differently. Since lenders know people often shop around, these types of inquiries won’t hit your report for 30 days, and when they do,they’ll be counted as a singular inquiry.

So, there you have it. If you implement these tips, you should start to see a gradual increase in your credit score. Remember: Your credit score is based on patterns over time, with an emphasis on more recent information. Improving credit won’t happen overnight, but with persistence and consistency, your score should gradually improve over time!

Free Credit Report Review

Need some extra help navigating your credit report? GreenPath’s NFCC-certified credit counselors can walk you through a free review of your credit report. They’ll explain how to read the report and help you to make a plan for managing your credit score to support your goals.

Learn More

• By Kevin Alvarez

Today Marks the First Federal Juneteenth Holiday

June 19 is now officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, a US federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

It commemorates June 19, 1865: the day that Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and told slaves of their emancipation. That day came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Even after Lincoln declared all enslaved people free on paper, that hadn't necessarily been the case in practice.

Because June 19 falls on a Saturday this year, most federal employees will observe the holiday on Friday, June 18 in the U.S. The law makes Juneteenth the 12th federal holiday.

Juneteenth serves as a day of remembrance for those who made sacrifices in the name of freedom and to recognize the progress that has been made in our nation through the power of community and the work it takes to make change.

To learn more about Juneteenth, click here.

Juneteenth

• By Kevin Alvarez

SafeAmerica Credit Union 68th Anniversary

May 20, 2021 marks our 68th anniversary, from starting with ten Safeway Employees to now 35,800 members strong today! Those ten Safeway employees came together in 1953 with the goal to create a financial cooperative that would benefit their coworkers with savings and low interest loans. By May 20th 1953, the formal approval was given and the rest has been nothing but great history.

We would not be able to reach this great accomplishment without our members and employees from both past and present. We have learned, grown and will continue to evolve.

Thank you all for allowing us to serve and assist you in reaching all your financial goals. From home and auto loans, to checking and Visa cards as well as many other services we offer. We have done our best and will continue to be as resourcefully available to you as possible.

Thank you for 68 years
Here’s to many more
and
remember
You are safe with us

Learn more about our history by clicking here

• By Kevin Alvarez

Understanding and Preparing a Savings Account – Financial Literacy Month

Have you been keeping an eye out on the housing market? What about the auto industry? Well before you can purchase your first home or a brand new car, taking control and understanding your debt is needed. The journey of reaching your next financial goal may sound like a daunting task, but having the understanding of what it will take to reach those goals is the mindset to strive for. Through then, you can create short term goals which will assist with building up to the overall financial goal.

In order to be properly set for the financial path forward, there are a few initial organizational concepts that need to be accounted for first.

Understanding Your Monthly Income

Do you know the difference between net pay and gross pay? Net pay is the amount you take home AFTER pay roll deductions and tax with holdings have been made. Gross pay is the amount that is shown BEFORE tax deductions like state tax, federal tax and social security.

The number to be aware of is your net pay. As the amount of money you are actually taking home is known and acknowledged, you can create a budget from a true dollar amount and track accurate financial habits.

Understanding and Cutting Your Spending Habits

Are you aware of any habits that add a burden to your wallet? When it comes to finding where you can save money, coffee is a common expense people adjust first. You don’t have to cut coffee completely, but you can easily save by making coffee from home. Purchasing coffee from your favorite café is costly compared to a home brewed pot which could even save you time, eliminate transportation costs and reduce the cost of coffee itself.

Gym passes are also a typical expense that could be adjusted to aggressively save. There may be a numerous amount of reasons for a gym pass, yet there is an equal amount of alternatives that could be implemented in order to save. Switching to a home workout and using online videos and blogs can provide structure to your workout all while saving again, on transportation costs, time and of course, gym fees.

These are both conceptual ideas that could translate to other aspects of monthly expenses, in order to start cutting your spending habits.

Understanding Your Saving Habits

Now that you understand your spending, you can focus on your savings habits and take advantage of different accounts that pay dividends at better rates than traditional big banks. Your typical savings account at a big bank does not offer the same interest rates as a credit union, so it’s often advised to open either a Share Certificate Account or Money Market Account to maximize your monthly savings through dividends.

Understanding How to Move Forward

Everyone’s financial situation is different and some situations require to pay debt down aggressively, with a small consistent stream going into savings. It is recommended to do both collectively even if the monthly deposited savings amount is small. As a member of SafeAmerica Credit Union you have numerous resources readily available to help keep you, financially on track. Being financially healthy is a goal in and of itself and allows the path to financial milestones to present themselves. Keeping to strict saving and spending habits allows you to keep debt down and reach your financial goals.

Learn how you can use a Share Certificate to your advantage as well as the liquidity of a Money Market below.

Share Certificates
Money Market

• By Kevin Alvarez

Financial Tools for Success – Financial Literacy Month

Information is brought to you by our partner, GreenPath Financial Wellness

April is Financial Literacy Month –  a good time to consider the importance of financial literacy education, especially with the economic uncertainties caused by the ongoing pandemic. Continuing our series of blogs sharing information as part of Financial Literacy Month, the focus today is on finding the right financial tools for success – whether the resources help us with budgeting, setting financial goals, or managing credit card debt, loans, or other debt.

Check out these financial tools to begin understanding options to figure out your finances.

Financial Calculators

A healthy financial future begins with an understanding of a person’s current situation. Online financial calculators help people run the numbers and answer questions related to financing their home or comparing how a debt management plan can help manage credit card debt.

Financial Wellness Resources

Being able to make healthy financial choices is about having good information at your fingertips. Much of that education is available online, but it’s important to tap into trusted resources. As an example, as a national nonprofit, GreenPath makes available a library of resources including worksheets, guides, educational on-demand webinars about managing finances, online learning experiences to help set a simple spending plan or prioritize expenses, and other educational tools.

Financial Counseling and Debt Management

Teaming with a trusted financial counseling agency gets the right information to help people make the best decisions about their future.

As a national nonprofit, GreenPath Financial Wellness provides free one on one financial advising with certified counselors. You’ll improve your financial literacy education with credit card debt counseling, debt management plans, student loan counseling, housing counseling, foreclosure mitigation, and debt management counseling

Based on a person’s full financial picture, people will understand how to pay down debt, steps to rebuild credit history, tips to create a savings strategy or other specific information to move forward.

As your financial institution, we proudly provide our members with insight through financial education and resources that may be of benefit. Through this, we can equip our members with knowledge to assist with helping to prevent financial stress, especially during when its most unpredictable.

Below is a list of available resources SafeAmerica Credit Union has for members:

Calculators

Here you can learn and calculate:

  • What your loan payments would be
  • What your auto payments would be
  • Should you refinance your auto loan at a lower rate
  • How long it would take to to pay off your credit card(s)
  • Should you transfer your credit balances to a lower rate with us
  • How much could you borrow from your home equity (HELOC)
  • Should you refinance your mortgage
  • Understanding your possible mortgage payment
  • How much would you need for retirement
  • how much should you save to reach your financial goal
Rates and Fees

Here you can stay up to date with our current rates for:

  • Savings
  • Checking
  • Credit & Personal
  • IRAs
  • Auto
  • Home
  • Fees
Educational Videos

Through our How-To Videos you will understand the following:

  • What is a Credit Union
  • How to enroll in Online Banking
  • How to use Our Mobile App
  • How to use Mobile Deposit
  • How to use mobile wallet
  • How to make a payment

Learn about online security through our How-To videos:

  • Getting back your stolen identity
  • Simple Tips for Secure Mobile Banking
  • Protect your Account through Strong Passwords
  • Wi-Fi Network Access Scams
  • What is Multifactor Authentication?
  • Protect Yourself from Phishing Attacks
  • Protect Yourself from Vishing Attacks
  • Protect Yourself from Gift Card Scams
  • Warning! Fake Cashier's Checks
  • How did a Virus Get on My Computer
Blog

Read our blog for continuous financial learning and updates:

  • Financial Literacy for Kids
  • 5 Factors That Affect Your Credit Score
  • What is a balance transfer
  • What is a Debt Management Plan

Our blog is constantly being updated on a monthly basis, so make sure to check back often!

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