Latest / Chuck Douglas / Money Monday 3-2-2026

Transcript

Money Monday 3-2-2026 · Chuck Douglas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's see here he's dead, he's not dead. And some
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: thoughts on the surveillance systems around the world coming up
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: before the show is over.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: But first, we're in the Monday, We're in the money.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: We've got it on on what of cakes to get it?
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  Speaker 1: First Monday the month means it is another Monday Monday
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  Speaker 1: with Pathway's Financial Credit Union president Greg Kidwell joining me
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  Speaker 1: in the studio to tell me about all kinds of
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: wonderful and amazing things at Pathways Financial Credit Union. Okay,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: maybe they're not wonderful one meete. Okay, maybe I don't know. Greg,
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  Speaker 1: who do you have anything wonderful and amazing or amazing?
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  Speaker 1: Does it fit?
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  Speaker 2: That's really tough to follow, Chuck.
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  Speaker 1: But I've got to build you up, man, I got
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  Speaker 1: to put a financial cape on your back. You've been
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: bringing nothing but good news. The credit the credit score
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  Speaker 1: thing is something that you and I have talked about
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: off the air. But everything that you are doing I
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: was thinking about this past week is specially as I
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: was talking about my grandson and that help, that personal help,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: that personalized help that you get when you're dealing with
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  Speaker 1: Pathways is something that you know that's going to help
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  Speaker 1: you build that up, which gets you towards all these
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: other things that we've been talking about so far when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to the best possible mortgage rates and the
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  Speaker 1: best possible car loan rates and the credit cards and
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  Speaker 1: things like that. So, you know, I get inspired talking
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  Speaker 1: to you because every time I hear something from you,
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  Speaker 1: it fires like eighty other things in my head. And
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  Speaker 1: whatever you've got to say, I'm going to call it
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  Speaker 1: wonderful and amazing because I'm sure it will be. Well.
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  Speaker 2: Actually, today I got inspired by you, Chuck, because you
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  Speaker 2: know how whenever you talk to your listeners about us,
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  Speaker 2: you always refer to joining pathways, financial credit unions, joining
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  Speaker 2: the family. Yeah, well that's exactly what we are. We
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  Speaker 2: really are a family. Credit unions are not for profit
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  Speaker 2: financial cooperatives, so they're owned by the people that do
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  Speaker 2: business with us, you of which obviously or one of
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  Speaker 2: those people. And so you know what what does that mean? Well,
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  Speaker 2: what it means is you get a little better rates
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  Speaker 2: on your loans, you get a little better rates on
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  Speaker 2: your savings, and you pay a little less fees. Then,
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  Speaker 2: when you're dealing with a for profit entity, you know,
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  Speaker 2: such as a bank that you know also has private
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  Speaker 2: owners or shareholders to satisfy. We don't have to worry
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  Speaker 2: about that. We just have to satisfy our members. We
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  Speaker 2: just have to generate a return for our members. And
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  Speaker 2: you know, while we are while Pathways is a family,
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  Speaker 2: and that family is sixty thousand members, what really sets
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  Speaker 2: us apart is one hundred and twenty people that work
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  Speaker 2: for Pathways that take care of that family. And we
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  Speaker 2: have some amazing people that do amazing things for us.
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  Speaker 2: We have employees that go to nursing homes after hours
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  Speaker 2: in order to get signatures to put somebody on or
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  Speaker 2: take somebody off their account. You know, we have people
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  Speaker 2: shockingly that come in and try to defraud us every
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: once in a while by maybe trying to catch a
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  Speaker 2: counterfeit check drawing on one of our members accounts, and
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  Speaker 2: we're able to catch those things and protect our members.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we have people that are new to the
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  Speaker 2: Credit Union as members. They come in, maybe they have
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  Speaker 2: a little trouble getting acclimated to their online banking. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they find somebody and this person may this member may
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  Speaker 2: live in Cleveland, and they may end up talking to
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  Speaker 2: somebody in Inglewood, Ohio. But they they end up wanting
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  Speaker 2: to continuously talk to that person because that person becomes
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  Speaker 2: their personal banker. And that happens all across our branch
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  Speaker 2: network all throughout Ohio, every single day, every single week,
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  Speaker 2: every day of the year.
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  Speaker 1: You know, and you see in Inglewood, Ohio, but Ohio
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  Speaker 1: anywhere is fine. That's I don't think. I don't think
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  Speaker 1: I have called the customer service number more than half
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  Speaker 1: a dozen times, But I can't think of one time
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  Speaker 1: when I was challenged and understanding who I was talking to,
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  Speaker 1: or getting them to understand me, or anything else. Everybody
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  Speaker 1: that I have dealt with the Pathways has been very
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  Speaker 1: easy to communicate with. And you know, on my beloved
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  Speaker 1: West Side, I love the fact that there's what is
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  Speaker 1: she two seeds down. I think from the entrance, a
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  Speaker 1: woman who is fully bilingual. With the Latino community we've
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  Speaker 1: got on the West Side over there, they're able to
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  Speaker 1: walk in there and be understood and talk to somebody
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  Speaker 1: who can instantly communicate back. Not a lot of places
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  Speaker 1: go that distance to make sure that somebody is in
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  Speaker 1: the right place at the right time for the right audience.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm impressed by that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, thank you, And we have Obviously, we have bilingual
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  Speaker 2: employees all throughout our organization because we serve that community
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  Speaker 2: and we try to serve them well. We went to
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  Speaker 2: serve them as well as any body in Central Ohio
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  Speaker 2: can serve them. So we absolutely have that. But it
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  Speaker 2: takes a special person to be able to work for
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  Speaker 2: Pathways because you have to care, you have to take ownership,
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  Speaker 2: and you have to go the extra mile. We recognize
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  Speaker 2: that from a service standpoint, that's really the only thing
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  Speaker 2: that's going to differentiate us from other financial institutions. Rates
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  Speaker 2: can be copied, fees can be copied. The products and
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  Speaker 2: services are all the same. I don't know about you,
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  Speaker 2: but I've been doing this for about thirty six years now,
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  Speaker 2: and you don't see a whole lot new in terms
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  Speaker 2: of banking. You know, banking is either saving money or
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  Speaker 2: lending money, So all that stuff's kind of the same.
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  Speaker 2: It's all a commodity. What's different for us, what sets
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  Speaker 2: us apart are the people that work for us, the
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  Speaker 2: people that take care of the Pathways family members.
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  Speaker 1: Now you talk about saving money, we are running out
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  Speaker 1: of time. I keep telling people I'm serious about that.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: There is a deadline approaching on that CD.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely. We have a currently have the ten month
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  Speaker 2: CD special that we're still running for five hundred dollars
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  Speaker 2: up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and that
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  Speaker 2: offer is going to expire on March thirty first, so
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  Speaker 2: we will be bringing that special to an end. So
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  Speaker 2: if you've you've been waiting and thinking I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: get to that, just make sure you get to it
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  Speaker 2: here this month dur in March.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's not waste anymore time. I remember in the
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  Speaker 1: back in the day they had people said I get
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: around to it, and there was a little thing about
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  Speaker 1: the size of a court that said tuy t on it,
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  Speaker 1: and so I do, what is it? It's around to it.
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  Speaker 1: We used to hand those off like challenge coins back
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  Speaker 1: in the eighties. House the car Loan business. We were
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: talking last time around about the what is it twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen or newer used cars? I can't remember what
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: that was. Kim standing over my shoulder. That's a you
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  Speaker 1: can't see him on the radio, but he just looked
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  Speaker 1: over like, Kim, what's the the car?
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  Speaker 2: What is it?
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  Speaker 1: What is the car? Kim? Four years are newer?
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  Speaker 2: Four years are newer?
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so twenty twenty two are newer. We'll see that's
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  Speaker 1: way too new for me. I as we found.
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  Speaker 2: Out, we could probably help you with that. Take advantage
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  Speaker 2: of this.
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  Speaker 1: We'll just pulled out the loan application. You just pulled
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: out the loan application. But after you know this winter
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  Speaker 1: that we've had a lot of people found themselves challenged
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  Speaker 1: with the with what they are driving, including myself, And that's, uh,
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  Speaker 1: that's not out of the question. So yeah, you kim
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  Speaker 1: looked it up. Four point three percent and the car
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  Speaker 1: has to be four years twenty twenty three or newer.
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  Speaker 1: And that is available through March thirty first as well.
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  Speaker 1: All right, and what else have we covered?
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  Speaker 2: The uh?
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  Speaker 1: The master card? Yep, we talked about the master card
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  Speaker 1: last time around. How's that business going? People getting cards?
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  Speaker 2: We absolutely uh are out there loving to consolidate anybody's
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  Speaker 2: debt from high interest credit cards onto a low rate
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  Speaker 2: Pathways Platinum master card with rates as low as eleven
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  Speaker 2: point four to nine percent.
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  Speaker 1: And it's crazy, what is legal? I didn't know. I
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  Speaker 1: always thought like twenty nine percent or something was the
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  Speaker 1: highest question. But you can go to thirty some percent
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  Speaker 1: on a credit card anymore.
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  Speaker 2: Private label credit cards like store cards, the going rate
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  Speaker 2: is generally twenty nine to thirty percent chocket.
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  Speaker 1: So that twenty dollars item you bought cost you seventeen
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  Speaker 1: thousand dollars by the time you've taken.
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  Speaker 2: It is a real problem. That's that's why, you know,
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  Speaker 2: from a regulatory standpoint, we have to put on our
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  Speaker 2: statements how long it would take for you to pay
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  Speaker 2: off the balance on your card if you just make
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  Speaker 2: the minimum payment every month.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: So that's that's intended to educate the consumers that that
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  Speaker 2: was a really good regulatory decision.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it will. That's good that everything is disclosed like that.
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  Speaker 1: It's also, honestly, as crazy as it sounds, it's good
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  Speaker 1: that the rates are where they are with any financial
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  Speaker 1: institution out there. That's something else you and I talked
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  Speaker 1: about last month, is that what I consider to be
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  Speaker 1: a pipe dream of the White House and capping everybody
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  Speaker 1: at ten percent, that's just going to make it impossible
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  Speaker 1: for people with even close to questionable credit to get
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  Speaker 1: any kind of credit anywhere.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, it will. The only people if there's a
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  Speaker 2: a ten percent or twelve percent cap on credit cards,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the only people at the end of the day.
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  Speaker 2: Who are going to end up with credit cards are
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  Speaker 2: people that don't need them for you know, the occasional
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  Speaker 2: emergency or maybe the occasional bad week.
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  Speaker 1: Right, So, isn't it funny The people who don't the
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  Speaker 1: people who have lots of money are the ones that
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  Speaker 1: can usually get the credit. The people who don't have
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  Speaker 1: lots of money the ones have trouble getting the credit.
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  Speaker 2: And that's why that's why credit unions are so important.
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  Speaker 1: Chat is exactly it. It's more more of a personalized
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  Speaker 1: situation than any corporate entity. Big giant building and a
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  Speaker 1: place you've never seen before and have never talked to
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  Speaker 1: anybody from there can possibly do for you. Anything new
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  Speaker 1: that we need to talk about before you get out
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  Speaker 1: of here today, Any any new stuff coming up this spring?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm sure we'll have a few new things for you,
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  Speaker 2: But right now we just really focused on you know,
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  Speaker 2: getting getting another month end on on that certificate special
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  Speaker 2: and the four by the four by four car Loan special,
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  Speaker 2: and then of course, as you men mentioned, you know,
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  Speaker 2: making the right choice and consolidating your debt through our
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  Speaker 2: low rate master Card credit.
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  Speaker 1: Card, and that in itself is going to help with
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: those credit scores. By the way, just having that one day. Now,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: see here, you don't you don't pay off credit cards one, two, three,
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  Speaker 1: and four, consolidate them into this card and then go
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: out and charge up those cards. Don't do that. That
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  Speaker 1: kills the credit score. Putting them all on this taking
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: those lines of credit down to zeros or as close
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  Speaker 1: to zero as you can get them. That's the kind
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  Speaker 1: of thing that helps inflate your credit score.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And then the other thing is to not close
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: the other cards. No, don't leave them open because it
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: reduces your capacity. And if it reduces your capacity or
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: reduce your credit score.
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  Speaker 1: People don't understand the chains that get jerked when it
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: comes to credit score stuff. They've got all kinds of
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: crazy formulas. You think, well, I'm just going to close
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: out those account. No, don't do that, because then you're
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  Speaker 1: showing you're using more of your available credit. If you've
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: got all these credit lines that are not being used,
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  Speaker 1: you're just using a little bit portion of your available credit.
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  Speaker 1: That makes you look good, that makes the score go up,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: that's right, and that's what you want to do, is
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: increase that score. People say, well, I've got a bill
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  Speaker 1: that I didn't pay a few years ago, I'm going
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: to pay that often. No, don't necessarily do that either
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: if you're looking at credit scores, because if it is
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: dormant at this point and not reporting to the credit agencies,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: you make that payment, you reactivate that delinquent account that
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: could take your score down because you paid the bill.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Go into the credit union, talk to them, let them
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  Speaker 1: co you through this kind of stuff, because it can
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: you think you're doing the right thing and it comes
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  Speaker 1: back to bite.
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  Speaker 2: You absolutely, and that's you know, that's That's another thing.
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  Speaker 2: That's a great point because as I've mentioned before, Pathways
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  Speaker 2: has certified financial coaches. They can help you with all
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: your budgeting needs and also any questions about credit that.
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  Speaker 1: You have federally ensured by u n c UA. And
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: once again, I am so very proud. This kind of
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: stuff is exactly the reason I'm happy to tell you
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  Speaker 1: that Pathways Financial Credit Union is my credit union.