EAST LANSING, Mich. — The down economy has led Michigan State University FCU to add more basic financial planning assistance for members.
The credit union continues to partner with Rehmann Financial, which focuses more on long-term investments and managing wealth, noted spokesperson Caroline Van Houten.
But changes in the economy have meant many members need services more along the lines of debt counseling and financial literacy. As a result, MSU FCU has turned to Green Path, a firm to which it has referred members in the past when they've encountered financial problems. Green Path met with members in MSU FCU's facilities.
"In this economic time right now it was nice to offer this service to our members where they could come in and have a budget reviewed," said Van Houten. Members who have no budget or sense of how to create one are encouraged to bring in monthly bills and income statements to work with Green Path on creating a budget.
"We wanted to give people a proactive chance to look at their budgets and fine tune them to help them achieve some of their goals that they have," added Rus Halsey, director of operations at Green Path. "Each person left with a customized budget that included an action plan that detailed steps he would take to accomplish the goals that he had."
The credit union believes hosting the counseling sessions at the credit union likely sparked member interest more than if the services were offered at a Green Path location. MSU FCU noted that whether it's fair or not, there is a stigma attached to debt counselors so members may be hesitant to follow through on the referral if they have to go to the counselors' offices.
"It was a helpful thing to meet the member on the credit union's turf. It could have helped the [members] to feel more comfortable because it was offered in the confines there; that's definitely a possibility," Halsey said. "The thing that is exciting to me is that here is a glimpse of the need and demand for financial literacy. If [members] have strong money management skills up front it can help keep them from running into delinquency down the road."
Members made 27 separate appointments to meet with Green Path reps, and some debt issues opened the eyes of a number of members, according to returned surveys. In one response, a member said that he was finally realizing where all of his money is going every month. Another member said he was embarrassed about his debt prior to attending the counseling session, but emerged with a sense of comfort that the Green Path representative instilled.
The $1.65-billion institution promoted the in-house counseling session for approximately three weeks and said it was overwhelmed by the response; Green Path was compelled to bring in an extra representative on the event's second day because of the high demand.
"We even have an on-going waiting list," Van Houten noted. "We're hoping to do this again and we'll give them a call first since they missed out on this one."
