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What's new at SOFCU

Thank you for booking your vacations through Get Away Today.

We wanted to let you know that Get Away Today Vacations recently sent a check to Credit Union for Kids in the amount of $22,087.50! This amount represents all members of our partnered credit Unions who have booked their vacations through Get Away Today from May 1, 2007 through October 31, 2007. This brings our total annual donation to $41,138! These funds are disbursed among local children’s hospitals in your area.

Aflac Insurance is now available to SOFCU Members.

Mad City Money
From CUAO Outlook November, 2007

When school began in September, SOFCU Community Credit Union began offering their financial literacy educational workshops at local high schools. But this year, they came with something new. In addition to the Teens and Money financial literacy workshops, SOFCU is including “Mad City Money”—an interactive, real-life simulation designed to teach teens budgeting and basic money management in a fun but realistic setting.

In the simulation, teens are given an instant family, occupation, credit card debt, student loan debt, and insurance payments, and then move about Mad City and negotiate with merchants (played by credit union and business volunteers) to purchase necessities such as housing, transportation, food, clothing, household items, day care, and other needs. The challenge is to get everything they need (and want) while staying within their means.

Mad City Money offers students a glimpse into some of the issues, concerns, and sacrifices that they will have to deal with in the real world. Topics such as budgeting, spending plans, credit and savings are covered in the Mad City Money Simulation.

SOFCU is an advocate for financial literacy. The financial choices individuals make have a huge impact on their lives. The financial literacy workshops and the Mad City Money Simulation will help equip local youth with the education they need to make sound financial choices, that will enrich their futures.

SOFCU’s first Mad City Money simulation was held at Hidden Valley High School in Murphy on October 17, where 26 students from three different high schools in the area participated. The evening was great fun for all who came—pretend vendors, students, teachers, and even some parents came to see. Their comments were so positive that credit union staff is sure they will be repeating this again and again over in the future.

When students run into a problem trying to figure out their financial dilemmas, they can always “go to their credit union” for help. SOFCU Staff prepares for the onslaught of questions to come.

These four students are talking over their new “pretend” life in the future and what they hope to achieve by the end of the evening playing Mad City Money … it was a great time for all.

CUAO November, 2007

SOFCU Community Credit Union has offered more than a dozen free home buyer workshops in the communities within their Circle of Service—10 offices in seven counties. These home buyer workshops can be a life-changing experience for those who want to own a home, but don’t have the resources to help them structure their financial means to meet that end.
Now that their program has been up and running for some time, Maggie Burrows, real estate loan coordinator and one of SOFCU’s foreclosure counselors, shares some of her observations and success stories. Workshops offered through the HUD program are open to all members of the community. Since credit union membership is not a requirement, participants are referred to as clients in this program.
Burrows explained that while SOFCU gets a lot of questions about foreclosure counseling, half of the battle is getting the client to follow through with the appointment, before it is too late. For other clients, help with budgeting and credit issues seems to point them toward success. SOFCU’s counselors help clients make goals for the future, like a home purchase, by working with them on a spending and savings plan.
Burrows shared a classic example of how foreclosure counseling can help clients meet their goals. “I had a client couple who were in a horrible mortgage with a now defunct mortgage company. This was quite a learning experience for all of us, since this was definitely a predatory loan. The clients were considering being a part of a class action lawsuit being filed, but found that they would only get a couple of thousand dollars and would still be in the bad loans that they were in. I tried several times to do some workouts with the failed mortgage company’s “loan retention specialists,” but would always get different answers and different “specialists.” It came down to the fact that this company wouldn’t do any kind of modification or forbearance. They said that my clients didn’t qualify for it. Another avenue I referred was to an attorney who specializes in predatory lending cases. Unfortunately, the initial consultation would
cont. from page 2have cost money and time that they didn’t have. My clients were about to go for the last resort—bankruptcy—when a family member passed away. This was a bittersweet occurrence, since they inherited enough money to bring their home out of foreclosure (but not to pay off the predatory loans). Yet the failed mortgage company was not willing to waive any late charges (which were several thousand dollars). So, the clients are going to have to bite the bullet, pay the mortgage down as much as possible, and refinance as soon as their credit scores raise them out of the subprime pricing.”
Another client had already done a partial claim with their lender. It became clear that the couple needed to get onto the same page with their budget. They were not communicating with each other on spending, nor on how to honor agreements they were making with their creditors. SOFCU counselors worked up a spending plan and worked with the lender on a repayment plan to get them caught up. They also worked with the couple’s other creditors on reducing interest rates on some credit cards so they could get caught up. The clients expect to be out of default in the next 60 days.
As these examples attest, the foreclosure counseling provided by these credit unions have made a significant impact to their members and HUD clients. Although the end result is not always clear cut, the fact remains that credit unions are clearly emerging as consumer advocates in the midst of troubled times.


 

 






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