Latest / The SEANC View / Holiday Lifeline: $1,000 Bridge Loan for State Employees

Transcript

Holiday Lifeline: $1,000 Bridge Loan for State Employees · The SEANC View

• 0:00
  Hello, everyone. Welcome to a special edition of the Scenic View podcast.
• 0:03
  I guess it's not really a special edition, but it's the finance edition of the
• 0:07
  Scenic View podcast. We got some very smart money people in the house,
• 0:12
  and we're going to talk to you about a special program that's going on right now. Enjoy the show.
• 0:27
  Jonathan Owens, by the way, the communications director here at Scenic with
• 0:30
  Artis Watkins, the executive director, and Sammy Kline, our podcast producer.
• 0:35
  But we also have some special guests.
• 0:37
  Stacey Walker from the State Employees Credit Union is here with us.
• 0:40
  And also, we brought in the big guns for financial talk.
• 0:44
  Brenda Williams-Brown, the CFO of Scenic, is here to explain all the… The one
• 0:49
  who keeps us in line. Yeah.
• 0:51
  But I do fear that you probably made some people bored already and they might have left.
• 0:57
  Because you said this is going to be finance. They were like, click.
• 1:01
  Finance, click. If you haven't left yet, this is about how to make your money
• 1:06
  go farther, potentially.
• 1:08
  We're excited about the program that the credit union is offering this year,
• 1:12
  yet again, for state employees to kind of bridge the holiday gap that came about
• 1:16
  because of the change in the pay schedule, I guess, for state employees.
• 1:20
  Yeah, we talked about it a few weeks ago on the podcast, but last year,
• 1:24
  for the first time in as long as we can remember, and I can remember about 25
• 1:27
  years, but state employees had always been paid early in December to make things
• 1:32
  a little easier for December. Did it make January hard?
• 1:35
  Absolutely, but they were used to it. Correct. So they were notified,
• 1:39
  I believe, in August of the change. Okay.
• 1:42
  And that concerned us as an organization because we thought,
• 1:46
  oh my goodness, people probably haven't prepared. Well, they haven't prepared
• 1:49
  because they didn't know it was coming.
• 1:51
  So, Brenda, you can take it from here in terms of, if you don't mind,
• 1:55
  about what we did at that point and then.
• 1:57
  What our great friends at the credit union have done. Yes, the state employees
• 2:01
  were given that very short notice about this significant change in the pay cycle.
• 2:05
  And so our partners at the credit union reached out to us, as they do,
• 2:10
  caring about state employees and what they could do to help bridge that gap
• 2:13
  for employees who were kind of thrown for this loop and came up with some great
• 2:18
  strategies, as they always do to make it easier for state employees and affordable.
• 2:23
  And so we heard a lot about it last year. I think there were some questions about the product.
• 2:28
  So we love to hear what that product is this year and if there are any changes
• 2:33
  from last year, if you'd like to just share.
• 2:36
  Yeah, absolutely. And I'm excited that you guys invited me to talk about this program a little bit.
• 2:40
  As someone who grew up with two parents who combined served over 70 years for
• 2:45
  the state of North Carolina, I understand what this pay shift did.
• 2:49
  Because they were both accustomed to getting paid early in December.
• 2:53
  And you're right, Artis, it does make it sometimes a little challenging at times.
• 2:56
  By the time you get to the end of January.
• 2:58
  But that's what you've budgeted for for years. And so it was kind of a short term shift.
• 3:03
  So we got together, several of us in loan administration, as well as the executive
• 3:08
  team and said, OK, let's think, let's brainstorm how we can do something and
• 3:11
  we can do something quickly for this.
• 3:14
  So what we ended up doing is we set up a special loan program just for state
• 3:19
  employees who were accustomed to getting paid early in December.
• 3:23
  But we're making the adjustments to getting paid at the end.
• 3:26
  And it is a $1,000 personal loan that you have a payback period of up to six months.
• 3:32
  And it is a fixed interest rate at 5%.
• 3:35
  And so we had a really good response last year.
• 3:39
  We had almost 1,500 state employees reach out and take advantage of that program.
• 3:44
  So we were so excited that we were able to help bridge that gap for some folks.
• 3:49
  So one of the changes we made this year is last year because it was kind of
• 3:53
  a quick program we put together and didn't have all the time to make all of
• 3:58
  the systematic changes we need to do.
• 4:00
  All of the applications were directed solely through our contact center.
• 4:04
  So you had to basically call in and do the application there.
• 4:07
  This year, we've made some changes where you can also go online and make that application too.
• 4:13
  So you just put in a little quick December pay in the comment spirit and we
• 4:17
  know exactly what you're asking for and we can process it.
• 4:20
  It kicked off Wednesday, December 10th, And we've already seen applications
• 4:24
  starting to come in on the first day the program was offered.
• 4:27
  So it will be offered through the end of December and hope that this will help
• 4:31
  provide some financial assistance for state employees through December.
• 4:34
  Yeah, we posted it on our social media and we got a lot of interest,
• 4:38
  a lot of likes, a lot of hearts.
• 4:41
  So people are very excited about the program.
• 4:44
  And we have the full instructions on how to take advantage of it on our website
• 4:48
  as well on the homepage. You call this Lending Contact Sender.
• 4:52
  Or you can go online and do it. Or go online. Yep. So that gives you the flexibility
• 4:56
  to apply 24 hours a day, whatever suits you best.
• 5:00
  Now, do they have to take out the full $1,000 or is it? No, it's up to $1,000.
• 5:06
  That's a great question. Yeah. So, Stacey, can you talk about the application process itself?
• 5:11
  Because I think there were some questions last year. People thought they just
• 5:14
  automatically qualified for it.
• 5:16
  And so they were a little surprised and disappointed if there were cases where
• 5:20
  they didn't qualify for the loan or they got denied.
• 5:22
  Can you talk about that? Sure, absolutely.
• 5:25
  So it is still fully going through a full application process.
• 5:29
  So it is, what does your credit look like?
• 5:32
  What is your income? What is your debt to income ratio?
• 5:35
  And so it is applying for, like you would any other type of loan.
• 5:39
  There is a little bit of flexibility in that because it is a small dollar loan.
• 5:44
  But the last thing we want to do is someone who is already has several loans
• 5:50
  out there with us or with someone else.
• 5:52
  We don't want to put them into a situation where another loan becomes unaffordable
• 5:56
  for them. So, it does go through the same underwriting criteria that any other loan does.
• 6:02
  That's good to hear. Do you have, and maybe you don't have this information, but...
• 6:06
  Approximately how many people apply that maybe got turned down for it?
• 6:10
  That I do not know right off the top of my head. What I will say is that our
• 6:14
  lending staff, regardless of what channel you go through, whether you are calling
• 6:19
  our contact center, you're going online, or you're going into our branch,
• 6:22
  one of the things we like to say is it's not a no, it's just a not now.
• 6:26
  And so our staff is really good at helping educate members when they do come
• 6:32
  in for a loan and it's not now of why it's not now and what steps are needed so it is a yes later.
• 6:40
  Yeah, I'm a member of Credit Union. I've always loved the way you guys work
• 6:43
  with folks on their loans.
• 6:45
  I mean, even me, you know, I've even had loans in the past and I still have
• 6:50
  my house with you guys and everything. And we thank you for that.
• 6:53
  Oh, I thank you for that. But now you do have to be on direct deposit for this to take place.
• 7:01
  Is that for every system, is that available?
• 7:04
  Say like teachers, Beacon, and I guess there are other. What about retirees?
• 7:11
  No, because the retirees are not impacted by the change into the early pay period.
• 7:16
  It's still a good question, though, because there were several folks who did
• 7:20
  reach out asking that very question.
• 7:23
  One spouse might be retired, but one's still employed, and they were asking
• 7:26
  if they were both eligible.
• 7:27
  So that's a very good question. It is, you do have to be on direct deposit,
• 7:31
  and it is for monthly pay period.
• 7:35
  So you were accustomed to getting paid somewhere around December 12th,
• 7:39
  15th, 17th, and now you're getting paid the last day of December.
• 7:43
  This is what that program is targeted for, to help support those state employees,
• 7:47
  which do include teachers, public school teachers.
• 7:50
  So on our website, I guess the
• 7:52
  information I got from you guys that we posted, it does have an example.
• 7:56
  If you take $1,000 out at 5%, you would have five monthly payments of $169 and
• 8:02
  a final payment of $168.33. So if you are wondering how you can budget this,
• 8:08
  you have that as an example, right?
• 8:11
  And I will add, too, that if you do take the $1,000 out and you get to early
• 8:16
  January and you're like, you know what, I'm good to go, or February,
• 8:19
  there are no prepayment penalties.
• 8:20
  You can pay this loan off early at any time, or you can choose to take the full six months.
• 8:25
  So if someone went out to a payday lender or a short-term lending like this program or, you know,
• 8:33
  similar to this and wanted $1,000 for six months, I mean, the interest rate
• 8:37
  would likely be way higher, right? Oh, absolutely.
• 8:41
  Yeah. You know, you will see short-term payday programs that you can see interest
• 8:46
  rates charged in the 20s and the 30 percents. I will say even the 5% currently,
• 8:52
  that is lower than our current personal loan interest rate.
• 8:56
  It's lower than our credit card rate. So 5% is very, very competitive.
• 9:00
  It's actually lower than some of our current auto rates if you are financing
• 9:06
  out for the 72-month or the 96-month term.
• 9:09
  So 5% is, I think it'd be pretty hard-pressed to find somebody to be able to beat that.
• 9:14
  So if someone says, oh, the credit union is just trying to make money off of
• 9:17
  us, you guys are not making a lot of money off of this. We are not.
• 9:20
  We are not. What we wanted to do is be able to provide a program to assist state
• 9:25
  employees as best we could by being able to balance a little bit of risk in there. So, yeah.
• 9:31
  And I think that that's just amazing, especially.
• 9:33
  You don't see that from a lot of financial institutions these days,
• 9:36
  right? But our credit union has always been helpful.
• 9:40
  I mean, it's in your name, right? State employees. That's correct.
• 9:43
  And I think that's the value to our state employees and members is that relationship.
• 9:48
  And so with that in mind, this is a great product to help bridge that gap.
• 9:52
  But I wonder if you will talk about, thinking back about the financial literacy
• 9:56
  piece in my days in the treasurer's office and the partnership with the credit
• 9:59
  union. And one of the important things to help people understand is that loan is a great resource.
• 10:05
  Use it wisely to help make the holidays more cheery for your family and then pay that down.
• 10:11
  But the wisely using that money is the important piece.
• 10:15
  So talk about some ways for our members, even if they get that loan,
• 10:19
  to use the funds wisely so that they don't end up in situations where you have
• 10:24
  what I call the holiday hangover.
• 10:27
  Is the bills come due still, even if you've spent that money,
• 10:31
  maybe splurging for the holidays, but the recurring bills still come due. Correct.
• 10:35
  In January. But just talk about some tips that you might suggest for people
• 10:40
  to think going into the holidays, how to make it a merry holiday season and
• 10:45
  not have the after holidays hangover with your finances.
• 10:48
  That's a really good question about that. I would say one thing is,
• 10:53
  you know, we do offer this program, but make sure one, you think that you really need the program.
• 11:00
  Like, don't just take the $1,000 out for the sake of taking the $1,000 out.
• 11:05
  Kind of have an idea of what that might be earmarked for.
• 11:09
  And then also take a look at what your monthly take-home pay is and go ahead
• 11:13
  and take a look at what you are paying monthly.
• 11:16
  Those mortgage payments, those cell phone payments, cable payments,
• 11:21
  things of that sort that, like you said, are occurring every month.
• 11:24
  They're not stopping because the holidays are here. and then taking a look at
• 11:28
  what that payment is and being like, okay, well, this will fit in my budget
• 11:31
  or maybe it won't fit in my budget.
• 11:33
  And then also know that if you get to a point where you are in that little bit
• 11:38
  of a holiday hangover and you do need more than that $1,000.
• 11:42
  Come to State Employees Credit Union.
• 11:44
  Walk into your local branch, give us a call at the contact center,
• 11:47
  apply online and we'll take a look at potentially what else you might need past that $1,000.
• 11:53
  And then there's also great financial education tools on our website.
• 11:58
  It will help you kind of look at a budget. It will help you see where are you spending your money.
• 12:04
  I have done that first little eye-opening at times when you just don't really,
• 12:08
  you swipe that debit card pretty quickly and you don't always think about what
• 12:12
  you're spending on at times.
• 12:13
  Brenda, your pre-state employee existence was, there was some financial literacy
• 12:17
  in there, right? And you're very complimentary of what they. Right.
• 12:20
  And that we work together with the credit union quite a bit and doing those
• 12:24
  financial education sessions to help people think about the big picture of your
• 12:28
  finances, not just the short term, but your long term financial goals.
• 12:33
  I think the credit union is a great partner to look at that big picture from
• 12:36
  the mortgage to the auto to the to the everyday financial planning.
• 12:40
  And you've got some great products. And so I'd love to hear more about some of those products.
• 12:45
  And so as they get through the holidays this season, being able to be more planful
• 12:49
  with some of the other products that you have, like I think you've got a Christmas
• 12:53
  loan or the summer loan, the I'm sorry, not the loans, the savings programs.
• 12:58
  Absolutely. If you would talk a little bit about those, that they can be more
• 13:01
  proactive in planning for expenses and saving with that in mind.
• 13:06
  Yeah, I will say there's a lot of different information on our website.
• 13:09
  So I don't want to try to spend four hours talking about everything that I think
• 13:13
  is great that we offer. So I kind of hit a... You can come back.
• 13:16
  Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. I think there's a lot our members would
• 13:21
  want to hear from the credit union and understand that they have this credit
• 13:23
  union if there aren't. I think most state employees are using it,
• 13:27
  but some may not realize why they should.
• 13:31
  But if you can hit some highlights today, we'd love to have you back to talk. Oh, I'd love to.
• 13:36
  Love to. So a couple of things. One, something else that we just kicked off
• 13:39
  December 1st, and right now we are scheduled to run this through January 15th of 2026.
• 13:45
  And I think it was kind of touches back to your point of the holiday hangover
• 13:48
  and trying to budget a little bit is, you know, lots of times dealers start
• 13:52
  pushing out their end of year savings. like now's the time to buy a car and
• 13:56
  that can hit a budget pretty hard. Cars are not.
• 13:59
  Anymore. And so one of the things we are doing is that if you financed your
• 14:05
  car, do a purchase, or you are bringing your external refinance.
• 14:10
  So you've had it financed with the car manufacturer and other financial institution
• 14:14
  and refinancing it to state employees credit union.
• 14:16
  We will give you a grace period up to 90 days before your first payments do.
• 14:20
  So trying to help you get over that hump of holiday, especially if you're taking
• 14:25
  advantage of end of year deals with the dealer. So that's another thing that we're doing.
• 14:30
  I mean, I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention just from a lending
• 14:34
  standpoint that back about mid 2024,
• 14:38
  we introduced a half a percent interest rate reduction on auto lending and closed
• 14:44
  in consumer loans for state employees and retirees for this, which has been amazing.
• 14:50
  So as you're listening to this podcast, you're like, oh, maybe I'll go look at a car.
• 14:53
  Make sure that when you look at the interest rate, you take half a percent off
• 14:57
  the interest rate on our website if you're a state employer or retiree.
• 15:00
  But when I looked at the stats by the I think it was the end of October,
• 15:04
  over 41,000 state employees and retirees had taken advantage of that half a
• 15:08
  percent discount in an 18 month term. And with that, just have a percent discount.
• 15:14
  That's over $3 million worth of interest savings that we've been able to provide to state employees.
• 15:19
  So I think that's some really good.
• 15:22
  Things. And then to your question, too, we offer a holiday cash account.
• 15:26
  So you can set a predetermined amount that transfers every month into a holiday savings account.
• 15:33
  And we pay an interest rate on that the whole time, and it continues to accrue throughout the year.
• 15:38
  And so at the end of October, last day of October, we will transfer it typically
• 15:42
  into your checking account.
• 15:44
  So now you've already saved up money, kind of out of sight, out of mind,
• 15:48
  and you have some cash, I would say, ready to start your holiday shopping.
• 15:52
  And then for teachers who don't get paid two months out of the year,
• 15:57
  they're on the 10-month pay cycle, which my sister falls into that category,
• 16:02
  is we also offer a summer cash account.
• 16:05
  And so you can have X amount of money deducted from your paycheck,
• 16:09
  and we direct it directly to that savings account.
• 16:13
  And so then when, and I know it depends on the school system as to which two
• 16:18
  months you're not getting paid, but we will divide that up plus the interest
• 16:23
  that's accrued, and we will put half of it in your checking account for one
• 16:26
  month and half of another.
• 16:28
  So it's basically like you've gotten still 12 paychecks throughout the year.
• 16:32
  So those are just a few things that we do. That one is a huge deal.
• 16:36
  Yeah. I said, well, that would be everybody in a public school system. Really?
• 16:40
  Well, I guess there might be some I think admin stuff, yeah.
• 16:44
  Some. But I know like the teaching assistants, for instance.
• 16:48
  And we're hearing from everybody now because they didn't get raises.
• 16:52
  And their health plan's gone up.
• 16:54
  Yeah. So have y'all had more calls from people about products in general to
• 16:59
  try to help them through these times? Or has that not hit quite yet?
• 17:02
  From a lending standpoint, I would say that's not hit quite yet.
• 17:07
  But I would say we stay very in tune to listening to our members,
• 17:11
  especially state employees, making sure we are delivering products and services
• 17:14
  that are needed. I'm excited about the, well, I'm not buying a car, but I would be.
• 17:19
  I think I've taken advantage of that before. I think you did like 45 days without
• 17:23
  a payment. And now it's $90?
• 17:26
  We're doing 90 days just for this December 1st to January 15th. That's awesome. Yeah.
• 17:32
  That's like three months of your payments you're missing. So you can save up. Yeah. Very cool.
• 17:37
  With the pressure of costs rising right now, just that amount of time,
• 17:42
  just giving a state employee to breathe.
• 17:44
  Yeah. I mean, it is such a benefit.
• 17:46
  Especially when you're, like you said, coming out of the holidays and having
• 17:48
  that holiday hangover kind of gives a little bit of wiggle room, per se.
• 17:53
  Yeah, I saw a stat this week that like 80% of people making less than like $200,000
• 17:59
  a year are living paycheck to paycheck.
• 18:01
  So I think we're all hanging on, you know, so anything we can have like this to help is great.
• 18:08
  Do you have anything else you wanted to mention? You know, we go to your annual
• 18:12
  meetings, Artis and I, each year, and I'm always hearing something new that
• 18:16
  you do that is pretty amazing to me.
• 18:19
  Another program I think that we'd love to hear about in the future is I didn't
• 18:22
  realize the credit union has rental properties.
• 18:25
  Yes. And again, with the other thing that's continuously rising is the cost of living.
• 18:31
  And so in rent being one of those things that not everybody wants to buy a home.
• 18:36
  Correct. And not everybody is positioned to be able to afford purchasing.
• 18:39
  And so affordable rental housing is so important in our state employees,
• 18:45
  certainly as their salaries are flat. Another great benefit that didn't know
• 18:50
  anything about until hearing it at the annual meeting. Yeah.
• 18:54
  So twofold. If you are in the market and looking to do home ownership,
• 18:59
  we do offer 100% financing.
• 19:01
  For first-time homebuyers, we also will loan up to an additional $2,000 to assist with closing costs.
• 19:08
  And we do not assess private mortgage insurance on that. Yeah.
• 19:11
  Which to me is... Favorite part. Yeah.
• 19:14
  So there is that aspect. But like you said, not everyone wants to be a homeowner.
• 19:19
  Sometimes it's not the right time for them either. Yeah.
• 19:22
  And we started what we call SECURE, which is State Employees Credit Union, real estate.
• 19:28
  We started that when we were having to, unfortunately, do foreclosures.
• 19:32
  You know, that just happens with any financial institution.
• 19:35
  But the last thing we wanted to do was there was such an influx across the United States.
• 19:41
  With foreclosures is, you know, you saw a lot of other financial institutions
• 19:45
  not working on those properties to get them ready for sale or whatever.
• 19:50
  And, you know, that impacts your neighbors when your house is well-maintained
• 19:55
  and then there's somebody who hasn't taken care of their lawn in six months.
• 19:58
  And so we decided instead of selling those homes, we would start renting them.
• 20:03
  And so when there happens to be a foreclosure, and we have done some independent
• 20:08
  purchases as well, we go in, we have a completely different team,
• 20:12
  and they go in and they rehabilitate those homes and they get them ready for marketable rent.
• 20:17
  And there have been amazing properties that I have seen transformed by state
• 20:22
  employees, credit unions, real estate team, secure.
• 20:25
  So it's great. And you can go into any branch and ask if there are rental properties
• 20:29
  in the area and they can provide you a listing.
• 20:32
  So did you have people who went through foreclosure and then rented the same?
• 20:37
  No. Okay. No, we did not. My wheels were turning there. Yeah, no, we did not.
• 20:41
  Okay. I have one final question. It's kind of a crazy question,
• 20:44
  but you were mentioning about calls, and that triggered something in my mind.
• 20:48
  We get lots of calls for the credit union.
• 20:50
  We get a lot of people who say, are you the credit union?
• 20:54
  Does that happen on your end? Do you get a lot of scenic calls?
• 20:59
  I'm thinking one of us is massive And one of us is not So I doubt it If one
• 21:05
  of your employees has ever gotten a call That's like, is this the State Employees
• 21:09
  Association Of North Carolina?
• 21:11
  I'm not going to say never I personally have not But I'm not going to say never
• 21:16
  It could happen It could happen, you're right Especially with the theme parks
• 21:20
  Step out and make a call right quick Well,
• 21:25
  thank you so much for joining us And we're very excited about the program again this year.
• 21:29
  This has been Stacey Walker, the chief lending officer for the state.
• 21:33
  I don't think I said your title beforehand.
• 21:35
  I'm sorry about that. But thank you so much for joining us and have a great
• 21:38
  holiday. Anything else you want to add?
• 21:41
  Oh, you're not going to make her stay and go through the final?
• 21:45
  Yeah, I guess we could do that. I usually have a question of the week.
• 21:49
  Depends how nice he wants to be to it, I guess. He was being nice to you.
• 21:52
  I'm trying to let you escape. Don't do it.
• 21:54
  The artist called me out. No, before we even get to that, though,
• 21:58
  I know Brenda probably wants to say something similar, but I just want to thank
• 22:01
  you on behalf of all state employees and on behalf of the association because
• 22:05
  y'all are the best partner.
• 22:07
  Thank you. And you really do care about state employees. And now,
• 22:11
  look, we gave y'all trouble.
• 22:13
  We gave y'all for real trouble a few years ago, and we meant it.
• 22:17
  But y'all, number one, didn't give up on us in terms of making sure we understood
• 22:24
  where you were coming from on the loans, but also...
• 22:29
  You looked at what you knew you needed to do from a business perspective for
• 22:33
  the credit union and for the members and said, is there any way we can adjust that? And you did.
• 22:39
  You made a job. Like, you listen to your constituency.
• 22:42
  You listen to your members. That shouldn't be a big deal, but it is.
• 22:45
  And I really just, from the bottom of our hearts, want to thank you for that
• 22:49
  because y'all are amazing to work with from a policy standpoint.
• 22:52
  If y'all were a state agency, you would be the gold star.
• 22:56
  I bet a lot of people think you are a state agency. You know,
• 22:59
  a lot of people do think I'm a state employee. Yeah, me too.
• 23:02
  Yeah. Well, I appreciate you saying that. Really do. And I'll say from my standpoint,
• 23:08
  you know, that was something that we continued to look at and evaluate and reevaluate.
• 23:12
  And I would still say that, you know, with any change, not just those changes
• 23:16
  from a couple of years ago, we always analyze and reanalyze because life changes,
• 23:22
  the economy changes, state of North Carolina changes.
• 23:24
  And if we were to say, well, it's fine, then I don't think we'd be where we are.
• 23:30
  And we always want to make sure
• 23:31
  that we are providing the products and services that our members need.
• 23:36
  I would agree. And I would just reiterate, thank you for being responsive to
• 23:41
  state employees. And that's what I've seen all along. There's an issue.
• 23:44
  It's the credit union steps up and often first to step up and reaching out to
• 23:49
  the state, reaching out to us to say, how can we help? How can we be of service to the members?
• 23:54
  And we appreciate that response. And Lee, we appreciate Lee Brady.
• 24:00
  She's the CEO of the credit union. And, you know, I know that her team is a
• 24:05
  great team, but I am always moved at the annual meeting by Lee's commitment.
• 24:10
  She really clearly has a commitment to the folks who are all of the members of the credit union.
• 24:15
  They don't have to be state employees or retirees. But I do feel like there
• 24:19
  is the awareness that the credit union started with state employees and retirees.
• 24:23
  And that's great to be able to remember that, but to serve everybody.
• 24:27
  Yep, I agree with that. And we appreciate the partnership with you guys as well.
• 24:31
  Very much do. Okay, question of the week.
• 24:41
  So I was thinking of a financial related question, and this one kind of came
• 24:46
  to me because I have an answer. I don't know if you guys will, but maybe.
• 24:50
  When did you personally realize that you needed to be financially literate?
• 24:57
  Or when did you first start thinking about your own finances?
• 25:00
  And is that a question? Yeah. Okay. Good question. Okay.
• 25:04
  So I'll have it. I started. I'll have an answer. So when I was in college,
• 25:08
  I got all these credit cards that were like, here, we'll give you a free shirt
• 25:12
  if you sign up for this credit card.
• 25:14
  And, you know, I'm a stupid college kid and I did it.
• 25:17
  And like these credit cards came with like Sports Illustrated subscriptions,
• 25:21
  which automatically make a charge on that card. Right.
• 25:25
  So you automatically have a payment. So, you know, I realized then that I need
• 25:30
  to be serious about things like credit cards. And I've not always done a good
• 25:35
  job at it, but I think that has been kind of regulated now.
• 25:38
  So to an extent, right. But I think that that was the real tipping point for
• 25:42
  me when I realized that I need to be serious about finances.
• 25:45
  I bet you were way earlier than that. No, actually.
• 25:49
  I fell into that same trap. And I think the regulation has happened with these
• 25:52
  credit card companies targeted kids on campus.
• 25:55
  Because for a lot of us, we didn't know anything about credit.
• 25:59
  We thought money grew on trees because our parents gave us what we wanted and needed.
• 26:04
  We really had conversations about money and limitations and credit scores and those things.
• 26:09
  So you get to college as a freshman and then they're on campus wanting to basically
• 26:13
  give you money, plastic money. lend you money.
• 26:17
  And a free t-shirt. And a free t-shirt. Or maybe a frisbee or something.
• 26:20
  You apply for this credit card. Sometimes a pizza. Yeah. Okay.
• 26:23
  And what college student isn't needing food. And so they had all of the,
• 26:27
  you know, the things to entice you into applying for and issuing that credit
• 26:32
  card to you with you having no understanding of the consequences.
• 26:36
  Yeah. So it was some time after that when the first credit card bill comes due.
• 26:40
  Yeah. And your mom was like, what is this?
• 26:43
  So unfortunately, that is for a lot of people, a lot of kids,
• 26:47
  because I think we grew up not talking about money.
• 26:51
  And it was actually inappropriate for adults to have conversations with their
• 26:55
  kids as I was growing up about money and financial challenges of the family.
• 26:59
  They kept those kinds of things from the kids. And I think it was unfair for
• 27:04
  them not to understand that, again, money doesn't grow on trees and there are
• 27:08
  budgets that you have to maintain to keep the bills paid and the lights on.
• 27:12
  I wonder if we didn't talk about it with our parents because our parents didn't
• 27:17
  have the same pitfalls and scams out to get them that we did when we were in
• 27:22
  college. You know, I don't know if they were doing this same thing.
• 27:25
  I don't know if necessarily that was a reason I think in my household it was
• 27:29
  parents didn't want kids to worry. They didn't want you burdened with the responsibilities
• 27:33
  of, you know, how the bill is going to get paid, how we're going to keep the
• 27:36
  lights on, the food on the table.
• 27:38
  So I think it was more trying to protect us from the financial challenges that.
• 27:43
  The downside of that is you didn't go into college with an understanding of
• 27:47
  the responsibility of money.
• 27:49
  Then you had this responsibility and this credit card.
• 27:53
  So you had this power to spend in your hand without understanding of the consequences.
• 27:58
  It was like monopoly money. Yeah. Oh, really? It wasn't even real,
• 28:01
  right? Yeah. It wasn't real until the bill came due. And just one more thing before I move to y'all.
• 28:05
  So I have a kid in college now. And so when he gets like a solicitation in the
• 28:11
  mail, I throw it immediately away.
• 28:13
  Right. Well played. Well played. So what was the turning point for you?
• 28:18
  Or I guess maybe you've always been interested in this. You know, I started working at 14.
• 28:25
  Yeah. Without a worker's permit. I'm a little older than that now.
• 28:27
  So we'll just ignore that.
• 28:28
  But my parents didn't really talk about like budgeting and like their bills and stuff.
• 28:33
  But when I started getting that, my mom said, you've got to put a little bit aside.
• 28:38
  You can't just this isn't just play money forever.
• 28:41
  And then once I turned 16, I had two jobs at 16 all the way through college.
• 28:45
  I started at the credit union a long time ago.
• 28:49
  And when I worked at the credit union for the first two years, I had a second job.
• 28:54
  And so from that age at 14, it was always, you got to set a little bit back.
• 28:59
  Like you just don't spend all
• 29:01
  your paycheck because you don't know what you're going to need tomorrow.
• 29:04
  And I grew up with three other sisters. And I can still remember in seventh
• 29:08
  grade, I wanted this pair of like, looked like paint splattered Nike tennis shoes.
• 29:14
  And I did not play sports. And my parents were like, you don't play sports.
• 29:17
  You don't get a hundred dollar pair of shoes when you don't play sports.
• 29:20
  And so I realized that if I wanted something like that, I had to try to figure
• 29:26
  out how to save. So it was birthday money, Christmas money.
• 29:28
  And so I feel like I learned it on at a young age, but maybe indirectly.
• 29:33
  But I also admit I was one of those credit card pushers on campus.
• 29:37
  Oh, no. You probably gave me my free T-shirt.
• 29:42
  You could have just joined the track team or something. That's what I was thinking.
• 29:47
  And not you. I was thinking.
• 29:48
  Yeah, you're right. Should have gone out for basketball or something.
• 29:51
  And I'm wondering, sneakers were only $100?
• 29:54
  I know, but that still seems a lot to me at $100, but you're right.
• 29:59
  Artists, you still haven't? I had the opposite experience, which is kind of comical.
• 30:03
  But Brenda Williams-Brown, who's the most financially all-over-it rigid person
• 30:09
  I know, which is great. Which is great.
• 30:11
  Kind of what you want in your CFO. Well, it is what you want in a CFO.
• 30:14
  And it's funny to me to hear her say she got into all those credit cards and
• 30:18
  everything because my mom did talk to me about, there was a lot of things she
• 30:22
  wouldn't talk to me about, but I'm telling you from the time when the checking
• 30:26
  account was open, you need a checking account.
• 30:29
  And then let me see what your check register looks like to see if you're appropriately
• 30:32
  putting it in there and whatnot.
• 30:34
  And then she was smart. She said, I'm going to help you with college,
• 30:39
  but if I find out you got a credit card or, you know, I wanted a debit card.
• 30:43
  No, you don't need a debit card. What do you need it for?
• 30:48
  Yeah. And so I don't know. It might not have been the world's best way to do it.
• 30:52
  But she's like, if you want me to keep helping, these are the parameters.
• 30:57
  And of course, I was like, of course, I want you to keep helping because I don't want to do it.
• 31:02
  And so that's how it was kind of kicking and not kicking and screaming, but so a threat.
• 31:07
  But you were like me and you thought you had a mean parents.
• 31:11
  And then you realize as an adult, you're like, wow, they really they know.
• 31:15
  She knew that those were not natural traits in me, the organization.
• 31:21
  She knew. So that's our episode, our financial episode for the week.
• 31:26
  I think the takeaway here is the loan is there if you need it.
• 31:29
  That's right. Don't take it out unless you need it.
• 31:32
  And you have to repay it, as we just talked about, because of financial literacy.
• 31:37
  But I hope you will come back and talk about more. Because I have even more
• 31:41
  questions based on all of that.
• 31:42
  We need to have the financial episode of the month, and we'll just have Brenda
• 31:47
  Williams Brown hosted every month. Oh, no, I don't know about that.
• 31:53
  If there's a demand, she's shaking her head, but if there's a demand for that
• 31:56
  out there, if y'all want to hear more Brenda Williams Brown, just let us know.
• 31:59
  We'll make it happen. All right. Thank you. Have a great week.