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Truliant: Why, Who & How to Join

by Ryan on March 12, 2010

I had a short conversation with a friend on Twitter last night about various financial institutions and eventually told her that she should check out Truliant. She then dropped the classic line of, “I didn’t know I could join.”

That being said, I felt compelled to highlight some information on our website that explains what makes us different from other financial institutions and also provide a reminder of who can join/how to join.

Why You Should Join

Not everyone knows exactly what a credit union is, so let us share that information with you first. A credit union is a not-for-profit financial cooperative that is owned by its member-owners.

So what does that mean? It simply means that when you join Truliant you become a member-owner and every decision we make is focused on doing what’s right for you, not the stockholder. [click to continue reading.]

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Financial Counseling: Which Phase are You In?

by Donnie on March 11, 2010

When I start a financial counseling session with someone, my initial goal is to determine which phase of financial counseling is best suited to their needs. 

Let me clarify, financial counseling.  We are not talking about which mutual fund to select, how to set up your estate or what ways you need to allocate your assets to best earn for 2028.  We ARE talking about what you need to do to make sure your credit stays intact, your house stays “your house,” and what you need to do for 3-11-10.

There are three basic phases of financial counseling:  Remedial, Preventative and Productive.  I’m not crazy about the name of the last phase because I believe that all financial counseling is productive.  Nevertheless, that is the phase name.  Today’s post will summarize these and let you determine where you think you are. 

Productive (Yes, we’re going in reverse order.)

In the productive phase people are not extremely concerned with debts or cash flow.  Typically in the productive phase you do not see issues with paying monthly bills, paying debts off or general day to day concerns. The person in the productive phase places focus on making their money work smarter for them. [click to continue reading.]

Card Act Prompts Promotion of Credit Union’s Credit Cards

by Truliant March 10, 2010

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Troy Martens, Truliant’s vice president of consumer and real estate lending, recently wrote a post about the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 (went into effect February 22, 2010).
In the post he said,
“The CARD Act was designed to protect consumers; however advocates warn that despite the new protections, cardholders still need [...]

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Truliant Stays in Touch with Local Communities

by Rik March 9, 2010

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In addition to my day job here at Truliant, I’ve been working on my Masters in Business Administration (MBA).
An MBA teaches people a great deal about sales, leadership, finance, negotiation, process design, all of which are useful skills in the business world. However, they finish as distant runners up to the ability to understand who [...]

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Truliant Success Story: Helping Members Understand & Build Financial Foundations

by Truliant March 8, 2010

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Last week Donnie Peaks wrote a post highlighting various acronyms in an effort to help you understand what they mean. In his post he said,
“At Truliant, we’ve put forth great effort to not use financial jargon or acronyms that may be confusing.”
Shortly after his blog was posted we received an email in our Success Story [...]

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Suzy Orman Highlights Credit Union Credit Cards

by Truliant March 5, 2010

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Financial advisor Suzy Orman appeared on CBS Sunday morning last week to offer tips to help you with your personal finances. She specifically mentioned why credit unions credit card programs are something you should consider. Take a moment and watch the video below.

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What do Those Letters Mean?

by Donnie March 4, 2010

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Have you ever felt like there’s a secret school that teaches acronyms?  Maybe you think that you must have been absent that day in school when they covered what APR, APY, NCUA, EFT, SSN, ME, YTD and a hundred other acronyms stand for?  Well today is your lucky day!
Acronyms certainly make life easier and conversations shorter… [...]

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Planting the Seed through Community Service

by Marjorie March 3, 2010

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In the summer of 2007, a group of 10, 14 to 15-year olds from the Beans and Rice, Inc. Summer Program, toured one of Truliant’s Member Financial Centers located in New River, V.A. Melissa, who works at the center, recalls the groups initial reaction, “they looked as excited as a brick. We looked at them and they [...]

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Fraud: Reduce Your Risk by Using Online Bill Pay

by Chad March 2, 2010

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Worried about online fraud? Sure, who isn’t, but keeping your information safe on your computer actually isn’t that hard. Just keep your virus scan software up to date, use an anti-spyware program and use a firewall.  And you may want to avoid any shady websites.
But what about offline? I personally don’t think enough people worry [...]

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Don’t Let Emotions Drive Your Investment Decisions

by Truliant March 1, 2010

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Emotions play an important role in some of the most important decisions we make in our life. But when it comes to investing, emotions can do more damage than good. Here are some ways that emotions play a detrimental role in our investment decisions and what we can do about it.
Don’t Follow the Herd
When stock [...]

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