ERIE, Pa.-The upheaval in the financial markets has seemingly reached into every corner of the country. Yet the 31,000-member Erie Federal Credit Union said it's not doing much of anything different in response, as the economic issues really haven't had much bearing on its northern Pennsylvania market.
"Our pricing and lending standards remain the same," said Sandi Carangi, vice president of business development. "The only thing we are spending more time focusing on is financial education."
The $261-million CU is offering more seminars and providing more resources to help teach its members how to make wise financial decisions and become financially savvy, Carangi said.
"We continue to do well in the mortgage-lending area," she said. "Our home-buying seminars are attracting more people because of the questions that many people seem to have. There may be more people turning to credit unions now, but in our area mortgage lending is not a problem."
Carangi stressed that Erie FCU is focusing on financial education for all age groups.
"We recently hired a financial literacy and community outreach advocate so that we can continue to meet all of the requests we are getting to teach financial literacy," she said. "We are offering more seminars and working with other organizations to provide financial education."
The credit union's marketing message also remains the same.
"But we are making sure that our website contains up-to-date information on our safety and soundness and new share insurance coverage," Carangi noted.
