At Summit we are motivated by our purpose to help women and their families avoid poverty in retirement. It’s rewarding to get up each day and go to work to provide products, services, education and support that help our members build wealth, make good financial decisions and reduce stress. For us to help members build sustainable financial wellness, it’s important that we are true to our values – Honesty, Make Things Better, Respect Others, Be fair/Create Equity, and Care.

So, what does that look like for our members? Here is an example I recently shared in our Annual Member Meeting.* Spoiler alert: You will not need to look too hard to see our purpose and values in action:

A member stopped at a Summit drive up to make a deposit. Because we are always looking out for our members’ best interests, we noticed she had a second mortgage with us, but not a first and asked how she felt about her first mortgage provider. She shared it was just where her spouse, who recently passed away, had taken out the mortgage. In the conversation she shared that things were tight because she had only her income and it would be about a year before she would be eligible for her spouse’s social security benefits. We offered to meet with her when she had time to look over her finances to see how we could help. She said yes, and in that meeting, we noticed about 40% of her debt was revolving debt including several credit cards, one in the 28% range, and the rest in her first mortgage. Based on her income and expenses, we could see why things were tight. She needed to lower her monthly expenses at least until she had the added social security income and, ideally save her money in the process. We put together two options and she chose a total consolidation of her debt into a Summit Express Mortgage. It saved her more than $38,000 in future interest and $511 each month. She was so happy and said she felt a large weight off her shoulders. Reducing stress and taking actions to build wealth really pay off.

This is just one example of thousands that happen every day and make Summit Credit Union a rewarding place to belong. As a financial cooperative, we exist for all our members’ financial wellness and for more than a decade and a half have focused on women’s financial wellness.

Why women? Women make less and live longer. Women are more likely to be primary care givers and  feel ignored in financial services. They are also the primary purchase decision makers, start more businesses and want to learn more and take action.  For years we have empowered women’s financial wellness with financial education programs and conversations that support good financial decisions and inspire actions that build confidence and reduce stress. Nationally, women are 43% more likely than men to live in poverty during retirement according to the US Department of Labor Statistics. We think we can do better. See more on our Equity in Money page.

If you’re a member, please reach out to see what we can do for you. If you are not a member yet, come on in – the more, the better for everyone! Together we make the world better.

 

*Summit Fest Annual Meeting and Member Appreciation event