At Truliant, we have an internal Success Story Inbox that allows staff to share some of the great things they are doing to help our member-owners. For instance, here’s a short story from our Clemmons, NC Member Financial Center.
“Ms. Member (name taken out for privacy) came into my office this afternoon to discuss consolidating current credit card debt, a little over $32k, to our Visa Platinum.
She was made aware of this product through Sivi, the teller at our drive up window. Sivi had mentioned to Ms. Member that she noticed that a few credit card companies were drafting payments from her account and that she simply wanted to let her know of our fixed rate credit card.
Ms. Member went home to discuss with her fiancé and came back today to meet with me to see if she could apply. In talking with her I found out that she owns a 2009 Honda Accord that is paid for. I then informed her that she had the option of taking out a new lien on her paid vehicle.
I quoted an estimate of what the payment and rate might be for 5 yrs and then again for 4. Ms. Member was very happy with what she heard and decided to move forward in an effort to cut her credit card debt.
It’s also worth noting that we’re in the process of getting her a Visa Platinum card so she no longer has to deal with high/fluctuating rates on her other credit cards.”
In this example our member still will clearly have debt to deal with, but at least it’s now in chunks that are easier to manage and won’t have extremely high interest rates. When dealing with debt it’s important to keep in mind how much of your payment is going to the principal… and how much is being washed down the tube in interest payments.
