Inside: Find us at neafcu.org or on Facebook!

Common Cents
SUMMER 2010
Inside:
Don’t forget about the ANNUAL
MEETING set for 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 22 at the Hilton
Garden Inn in Jonesboro. The Hilton
is located across from our Jonesboro
Service Center located at 2704 Fair
Park Blvd.
> New statement design
> A teacher gives advice to assist
teens in being “financially fit.
> Privacy notice
> Rates
If you have a dream, chances are, NEAFCU has a loan. Here are a few highlights our
NEAFCU loans offer:
◆ FLEXIBLE REPAYMENT PLANS - so you can decide what best fits your
budget - a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly payment.
◆ NEAFCU can also work with you if you have had a FEW BUMPS IN
YOUR CREDIT. If you don’t need a loan currently, talk to us NOW about
preparing your credit for future loan needs.
◆ No application fees on auto and consumer loans!
◆ Closing costs average $1,200* or less on mortgages!
◆ DISCOUNTS off advertised rates on auto and personal loans.
We welcome the opportunity to assist you with your loan needs. See us today!
•Closing costs are estimate only. Costs may vary for larger mortages.
A quarterly publication of:
Find us at neafcu.org or on Facebook!
2
A few tips to keep your kids “financially fit”
By Pamela Pruett, Teacher, Blytheville High School
What is financial fitness? Financial means relating to
money and expense and fitness is the quality of being
suitable. Other terms for fitness are competence, preparedness and aptness. Thus one could define financial fitness as "money preparedness" or competence in handling
one's money and expenses.
Teens and preteens
are a group of consumers heavily targeted
As a teacher, I have often
by advertisers as evihad high school students
denced by the huge
tell me they don't mind
numbers of commerspending their parent's
cials and advertisemoney on anything and in
ments geared to this
any amount the parents are
audience. While there
is a lot of consumer
willing to give them. I have
spending among this
come to the conclusion they
group, there is little or
think of it as "free money"
no earning income combecause they didn't earn it
bined with little or no
or sacrifice to attain it.
saving/investing of
money yielding many
teens and preteens who
are financially unfit rather than financially fit.
How can parents/guardians help their teen become
financially fit? While it is often easier if some type of financial training begins at a younger age, it is still possible to
guide your teen in developing personal responsibility and
accountability habits that will contribute to their development of lifelong financial fitness.
The following are by no means an exhaustive list of
tips to help your teens become financially fit, but some
suggestions that you could start with and build upon.
• Help your teen set up a budget, taking into account
needs and wants, financial goals, expenses and
income. Always include savings in a budget.
• Teach your teen to set SMART financial goals: Sspecific, M-measurable, A-attainable, R-realistic, and
T-time-bound.
• Share some of your financial experiences, goals,
and budget information. Rather than use a "lectur-
ing format," share in a "story type format" a lesson
you learned or something interesting you read and
used in your own life.
• Take advantage of teachable moments. Let your
teen learn from his or her mistakes and successes natural consequences. Ask them questions and then
LISTEN.
• Demonstrate how to count out correct change.
Many teens do not have a clue how to count back
correct change because they rely solely on calculators. Have them practice with you.
• Stick to the plan and don't rescue the teen. If he
or she runs out of money because of an impulsive
purchase or poor planning, resist the urge to pay
for the item he or she can't afford.
• Set a positive "financially fit" example for your teen
and be consistent. Practice what you preach and
teach or you lose credibility.
• Use resources such as financial advisers in your
community. Northeast Arkansas Federal Credit
Union provides a wealth of information through
their employees on how to set up accounts-checking, savings, credit cards, loans, etc. They work
with families to help them achieve their financial
goals.
Lastly, encourage your teen to take advantage of
financial literacy education opportunities available in the
high school curriculum and through their participation in
Career and Technical Education student organizations such
as Family, Career and Community Leaders of America. In
the BHS Family and Consumer Sciences Department, we
offer a Personal and Family Finance Course and all the
FACS related courses have some components of financial
literacy. Our BHS FCCLA chapter encourages participation
in national programs such as Power of One and Financial
Fitness that promote financial fitness for teens and their
families. Other area high schools offer the same opportunities to develop financial literacy skills. Financial education
at home and school will yield "Financially Fit" Teens.
About the Author: Mrs. Pruett teaches Family and Consumer Sciences courses at BHS where she is the FCCLA Adviser.
She teaches part-time for ANC’s Summer Children's Program. During her 24 years teaching FACS courses and advising
FCCLA in the Blytheville Schools, she has had the privilege to help FCCLA members and FACS students receive numerous awards, scholarships, and honors, as well as receiving many awards and recognitions herself on the local, state, and
national levels through her involvement in professional education organizations. Most recently, she received the National
Association Teachers of Family and Consumer Sciences Pride Award and a Distinguished Alumnae Award from the Family
and Consumer Sciences Department at the University of Central Arkansas where she received her BSE in Home
Economics. She has a MA in Counseling from Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA. Mrs. Pruett enjoys spending time with her
family: husband, Ken Pruett,of Blytheville; and son, Luke, daughter-in-law, April Moore Pruett, and 3 month old grandson,
Thomas Harper Pruett, of Jackson, TN.
NEAFCU features student-written articles in Common Cents, but this quarter it’s the teacher’s turn. Look for a student-written piece
in your fall issue. Teachers, please contact us if you have a student who may be interested in submitting an article. Submissions subject
to teacher and credit union review/approval. Contact Jena Weld at 870-532-5633 or jweld@neafcu.org for information.
3
as of June 2010
RATES
Rates subject to change without notice
AUTO
New*
Used
Other
Used
36 months
5.50%
6.00%
6.25%
48 months
5.75%
6.25%
6.50%
60 months
6.00%
6.50%
NA–
72 months
6.25%
6.75
NA
Before Available Discounts
As low as
PERSONAL LOANS
As low as
Terms up to 60 months
9.00%
NEW STATEMENT INTRODUCED!
From time-to-time, members have mentioned a need for
an easier-to-read statement. We listened!
You will notice your June statement has a new look and a
simplified, less-cluttered design.
You will also notice each account is clearly delineated with
a bold, black-box heading. Additionally, accompanying transactions are more detailed, making it easier to reconcile your
financial records for the month/quarter.
We hope you enjoy this new design layout and we thank
you for your feedback. This is part of a continuing effort to
better serve you, our member!
MORTGAGE LOANS*
3 YR.
95%
or less
LTV
5 YR.
7 YR.
4.25%
4.00%
10 YR.
4.75%
20 YR.
5.00% 5.99%
Rates are based on prime.
LOW CLOSING COSTS
2nd MORTGAGE
3 YR. BALLOON
6.99%
85% LTV
HELOC (Variable Rate)
6.00%
85% loan to value
Not sure you remember your
Personal Identification Number
for Online Banking and you
don’t want to lock yourself out?
Use this section to click here for
a “do over.” This will be on the
right side of the screen when
you are prompted to enter your
PIN.
CONSTRUCTION
85% loan to value • Residential only • 5.99%
Call for terms.
VISA® CREDIT CARDS
Three Levels Available • Annual Percentage Rates
Platinum: 8.9% • Gold: 11.5%• Classic: 12.92%
NO ANNUAL FEE!
DEPOSIT
PRODUCTS
RATE
APY
Savings
0.25%
0.25%
Christmas Club
4.89%
5.00%
1.00%
1.25%
1.75%
2.25%
1.00%
1.26%
1.76%
2.27%
1.50%
2.00%
IRA Share (variable) 1.25%
1.51%
2.01%
1.25%
Share Certificates
6 months
12 months
24 months
36 months
It’s 3 a.m. and you want
to make a payment to
your NEAFCU Visa.
Now you can! Simply use the transfer
feature through the Transaction Line
(Press 3 on main menu) or Online
Banking and you can make your payment lickety split. Please note that the
payment will show up on your Visa bill
on the day you made the transfer.
Please allow a couple days for the
payment to be reflected in your outstanding Visa balance online or by
Transaction Line.
IRA
12 months
24 months
Money Market
$2,500-$24,999
0.50%
0.50%
$25,000 and up*
0.75%
0.75%
* Rates and terms are for qualified borrowers, dependent upon credit
score. Rates subject to change. Other restrictions may apply. See a loan
officer for details. New autos are model years 2009-2011 and not previously registered. Used autos are model years 2006-2010 and have been
previously registered. Other used vehicles are defined as pre-owned, and
between model years 2003-2005; add .50% for each 10,000 miles up to
70,000 miles. Additional discounts of .10% for each 10% down payment
off the MSRP/NADA Avg Retail up to .20%. Please note that members
can earn additional .10% discount for direct deposit/auto pay; .10% for
having a NEAFCU credit card; .10% with a NEAFCU Checking - with a
total discount not to exceed .50%. Rates subject to change.**Personal
loans must meet credit scoring criteria. See a loan officer for more
details.***APR is Annual Percentage Rate APY is Annual Percentage
Yield.****Balloon mortgage rates are based on prime.
You need a copy of a
cleared check - FAST!
While this service has been around in
online banking for a while, some may
not be aware of just how simple it is
to get a copy of a cleared check. Go
to the check history menu and click
on the cleared item to bring up a
printable image. You can do the same
in your checking history. A copy of the
front and back of the check is ready
to print!
4
We welcome the
following employee(s) to the
credit union family and these
organizations into our
Field of Membership
Ruth Owens
Bay Schools
Clark Property Insurance
United Way of Northeast Arkansas
Jonesboro Public Schools
Primm Enterprises d/b/a H&R Block
Information
SERVICE CENTERS
Blytheville
211 N. Broadway
Telephone: (870) 763-1111
Fax: (870) 763-2095
Forrest City
2303 N. Washington
Telephone: (870) 630-0956
Fax: (870) 630-0946
Jonesboro
2704 Fair Park Blvd.
Telephone: (870) 935-9336
Fax: (870) 935-9533
Paragould
1005 Linwood Drive Suite B
Telephone: (870) 236-5779
Fax: (870) 236-5701
Gosnell
100 Amelia Drive
Telephone: (870) 532-5633
Fax: (870) 532-5820
Mailing address:
TRANSACTION LINE
Instructions:
PO Box 467
Blytheville, AR 72316-0467
Jonesboro area: (870) 268-9696
• Press 1 & enter account number
Blytheville area: (870) 763-2818
• Enter your PIN (use last 4 digits
Non-local: 1-888-588-8555
of primary’s SSN on first login (Must have a Personal Identification you will be prompted to change)
Number, PIN to operate)
• Follow computerized instructions
ATM LOCATIONS
Jonesboro
• 2704 Fair Park Blvd. (drive-up)
• 211 N. Broadway (drive-up)
• St. Bernard’s Regional Medical
• Great River Med. Cntr. (walk up)
Center - ER Entrance (walk up)
• Nucor-Hickman cafeteria (walk up)
• ASU student union (walk up)
Gosnell
• 100 Amelia Dr. (drive-up)
Blytheville
Use Shazam Privilege Status ATMs for free. ATM Locator at
neafcu.org
Loan/deposit rates • Contacts • Online Banking/Bill pay • Information
Routing Number
When setting up an electronic or paper draft, use routing number 284174613 and your MICR number at the bottom of your
checks.
Please contact member services if you have questions.
You can contact us by e-mail at the “Contact Us” menu dropdown at neafcu.org. Select the topic you have a question about
and your question will be routed to the appropriate person.
Are you giving complete
strangers access to your
account information?
A commercial running on TV
these days shows customers at
what appears to be a financial
institution eagerly giving up
answers to personal questions or
even handing over a DNA sample
to receive $500 to open up an
account.
It’s humorous to think that we
would ever hand over a piece of
our DNA to get a $500 bonus.
What’s not funny is that consumers frequently, and unwittingly,
provide their most personal information to faceless strangers
through online payday lenders.
According to the Credit Union
National Association: “An online
loan ... requires that you give permission for the lender to access
your checking account to deposit
the loan and to withdraw fees and
interest. Since it is in the lender’s
interest for borrowers to “flip” their
loans as many times as possible,
many lenders make it difficult for
customers to pay off the loan and
just keep dipping into their checking accounts to collect renewal
charges....”
In these instances, consumers
have basically handed over complete access to their accounts.
Who knows what consumer information these “businesses” are selling to other parties or how it’s
being used. Handing over your
personal information to strangers
is most assuredly not doing you
any favors in protecting you from
ID theft.
Please visit your credit union to
inquire about alternatives to online
payday lenders. If you think you
have been the victim of an online
payday lending scheme, visit the
Center for Responsible Lending
website. This site offers a tool to
search for information about consumer protection laws and contacts in your state at www.responsiblelending.org.
We do business in accordance with
the Federal Fair Housing Laws and
the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
Privacy Notice
This serves as Northeast
Arkansas Federal Credit Union’s
(NEAFCU or credit union on further
reference) Notice of Privacy
Rights to Members.
Members are those that have a
current financial relationship with
NEAFCU such as deposit, loan
account, credit card account, safe
deposit box, self-directed IRA or
mortgage brokered service.
This notice is to inform members
of how information is collected and
how it is protected by the credit
union.
Non-public personal information
is that collected about a member
related to providing financial services
or products to that individual. This
information is not available in public
sources such as government records
or phonebooks.
There are several ways NEAFCU
would have access to member information:
• Applications or other forms
members submit.
• Transactions for the member
only and transactions members conduct with others.
• Consumer reporting agency
information.
Employee access is restricted to
those that need it in order to deliver
products and services to the member. Other safeguards are in place to
ensure physical, procedural and electronic protection.
NEAFCU will not give information
about a member to anyone except
as outlined in this policy or as permitted by law.
This may include necessary disclosures to service an account or
prevent transactions not authorized
by the member. Also, former member information is not disclosed
except that which is permitted by
law.
NEAFCU may disclose information to joint marketing
partners/financial institutions or outside marketing services with whom
NEAFCU has agreements.
Information you give us on
applications, such as “Name” and
“Address” may be disclosed to those
institutions. As a consumer, you have
the right to opt out of these mailings.
These partners may include
providers of financial products and
insurance. The reason for this disclosure to institutions with whom we
have joint marketing agreements is
to provide information to members
about additional products and services.