Your credit union has some good news for you.  We’ve just lowered most of our loan rates, especially our value-packed VISA Gold card rates.

We’ve all seen the bad-news headlines in the last year.  With foreclosures, repossessions and credit defaults on the rise, the lending industry seems to be in a crisis unlike anything most of us have seen in our life-times.  Luckily, for credit union members, national statistics show that the lending institutions best equipped to weather the current financial storms are credit unions.

That is because of the foresight and member-focused security that most credit unions have used as the cornerstone of our policies.  Credit unions exist to serve their members, not to make profits.  Nationally, credit unions have made fewer risky loans and accepted lower profit margins than other types of financial institutions, helping us to avoid many of the worst pitfalls.  Now, while other institutions are scrambling to find ways to charge customers more, your credit union is looking for ways to relieve some of your burdens.

With Personal Loans as low as 7.5%, New or Used Auto Loans as low as 6.00%, Variable Rate Loans as low as 7.00% and our fantastic VISA Gold Cards at 9.50%, FAFCU is proud to offer some of the best values around.

If you are like most people, it must seem like you could fill a large dumpster with all the "pre-approved" or "pre-qualified" credit card offers that fill your mailbox every day.  The special benefits, "teaser" rates and balance transfer options tend to look pretty advantageous at first glance but a few months after accepting these "preferred customer" deals, many of us are shocked to find that the costs are not what was implied.  Or what about those loan checks that simply arrive in the mail, ready to be deposited into your checking account without any applications.  Once the loan statements start arriving, though, the price definitely does not seem right.

Your Credit Union is committed to avoiding these tricks of the trade and strives to offer our members sensible, reasonable rates and complimentary features with all of our VISA credit cards and all of our loans.

"One of the things to watch out for is the method used to calculate the finance charges", says credit union Chief Executive Officer, Carolyn Anderson.  "Many credit cards now use an average daily balance but they take the average of two or more billing cycles instead of just one statement period.  That means that you could pay off you entire bill one month but still have finance charges the next month, even if you have a zero balance on the card.  Or you might make a large payment one month but the full balance is still considered in the average of two or three months.

"That’s not the way we do business", says Ms. Anderson.  "We have to be responsible about our credit portfolio management and find ways to keep costs down but we’re not ever going to price-gauge our card-holders and then try to conceal it in the fine print", concludes Carolyn.  "We are here to make money for our members, not from them".

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