You expect to hear the management of a credit union discussing financial services, but at Financial Center First Credit Union, they often discuss services that don’t involve money.
For example, you might overhear Annette Roy, vice president of membership development, asking her staff how many are volunteering at a local food pantry— and hear James Davidson, financial literacy program manager and certified credit union financial counselor, respond that a few more are still needed.
The two staff members were recently hammering out plans for Financial Center’s biweekly employee community service event. In the past, the center has made a collective effort to achieve over 1,400 hours of community service and offers 16 hours of paid time per year to its 160 staff members in exchange for volunteering.
Volunteering at the local pantry isn’t the only service the Financial Center, a not for profit financial establishment, offers to the community. They also provide what many financial institutions do not offer—free financial literacy education.
“We started focusing on financial literacy about seven years ago. It originally started in high schools,” said Davidson. He explained the institution developed a credit union branch in several Indianapolis high schools in hopes of encouraging students to open savings accounts.
Financial Center, which has eight Indianapolis locations, also taught financial literacy classes in high schools, but now programs have moved out of the classroom and into businesses and shelters, such as Holy Family in the Haughville neighborhood.
The credit union’s members and individuals in the community are invited to take part in their free Wealth Builder Seminars where classes such as Budgeting 101, Credit 101 and Retirement Planning take place. Since January about 1,000 people have taken advantage of the free finance courses.
Davidson, said he finds people are highly interested in savings, retirement, investments, credit and insurance. He said most who attend walk away with financial knowledge they didn’t have before.
“One of the most frequent comments I hear is ‘I wish someone would’ve told me this years ago.’ Many people aren’t living by a budget or understanding one. I see many people living paycheck to paycheck and they don’t understand why,” mentioned Davidson.
Along with having two full-time employees dedicated to financial literacy, including one who speaks Spanish, the Financial Center was also awarded the 2014 National Desjardins Adult Financial Education Award from the Credit Union National Administration. The award recognizes outstanding leadership of a credit union for personal finance education programs for members and the community through face-to-face teaching, publicity and organizational collaboration.
“I can guarantee you we are the only bank in the country that has two full-time people doing financial literacy,” commented Roy. “We were the first Indiana credit union to win that specific award in our size of credit union, so we’re just really honored. We’re putting our money where our mouth is. You can say that all day long, but we’re actually doing it.”
A number of credit counselors are also on staff to help those with credit concerns receive one-on-one attention free of charge.
“We don’t report to Wall Street, so we’re member owned. That means we don’t have the pressure to sell. We truly take time to sit with people and figure out what products they need, whether it’s from us or not,” said Roy.
One of Financial Center’s most recent product launches includes the Empower Loan program for those seeking a loan but have a poor credit history. The credit union believes this is a safe way to establish a line of credit.
“I tell people, you are going to do this (learn financial literacy), you’re going to screw up, but just start over,” said Davidson. “You’re not going to fix your bad habits in one week. Our classes and programs are a great community resource.”
For more information about Financial Center First Credit Union, visit Fcfcu.com.
