Credit unions, CCCS combine forces for credit education

In an effort to help educate employees and customers, several local credit unions and Consumer Credit Counseling Service have teamed up to teach the basics about how credit works.

"Credit When Credit Is Due," a course developed by the American Center for Credit Education, teaches about money issues and responsibilities. Nationwide, there have been more than 32,000 graduates of the course; the local Consumer Credit Counseling Service office has had about 275 graduates since the end of 2000.

Ninety-seven of those were since March, when Community Financial, Metro, Telcomm and Postal Federal Community credit unions partnered with CCCS to teach the course, which is sponsored by the Caring Communities program of the Community Partnership of the Ozarks.

"We thought this was a great way to help people in the community by helping them to gain a better knowledge of personal money issues and credit management," said Jill Bishop, vice president of marketing/business development at Postal Federal Community Credit Union.

Besides helping community members, spreading the knowledge about money management helps the credit unions.

"The more informed and qualified customers are, the less likely they are to default on their loans. It also helps us because if a customer gets in loan trouble, it teaches them to make contact with their lender and make plans for repayment," Bishop said.

CCCS Director of Education Tracey Blaue points out that any business that provides credit would benefit from customers having a better knowledge of money management skills.

Also, "Business employees may have financial problems as well. I'm dealing with a bank right now that wants to have Credit When Credit Is Due' available to their banking employees because two of the employees have filed for bankruptcy this year," Blaue said.

Employees with money problems tend to miss more work time because of stress-related health problems or meetings with attorneys or loan officers, Blaue said.

"Employees who are more confident in their finances will project that confidence to the customers they deal with. Even though you're at work, you're still thinking about your personal lifestyle. If you have insurmountable problems, it does affect your work quite a bit," Blaue said.

The 12-lesson course includes self-study and classroom time.

"After someone takes the course, they have a more solid background on how credit works, what's expected of them and required of them. They learn how to spot looming money problems and how to deal with them before they become out of hand. They learn positive steps on how to improve a credit report," Blaue said.

Dana Elwell, senior vice president of mortgage lending with Guaranty Bank, believes the course is helpful.

"I think the information they'd gain from it would be beneficial to them. In lending approval, the credit score is a huge factor on how people get approved," Elwell said. "If they've got a really good credit score, it allows the loan to be made even though a higher percentage of their income is being used for payments.

"Credit scores take into account how they've paid timely or not also how much credit they've got, what their balances are, their available balances and inquiries. The higher the credit score the better off you are. If you understood how that worked, it would be an advantage to you."

Bishop hopes to see the Caring Communities-sponsored courses continue, although state budget cuts have hurt the funding.

"The Springfield credit unions are working on fund raising to keep these classes going," Bishop said. "Volunteers aren't needed so much as contributions. The Caring Communities paid for the books ($50), provided child care and incentives."