3 Tips for a healthy Credit Score 

Tip 1:

Will my Credit/FICO score drop if I apply for new credit? If it does, it probably won’t drop much. If you apply for several credit cards within a short period of time, multiple inquiries will appear on your report. Looking for new credit can equate with higher risk, but most credit scores are not affected by multiple inquiries from auto, mortgage or student loan lenders within a short period of time. Typically, these are treated as a single inquiry and will have little impact on the credit score. 

Tip 2:

Fixing credit report errors.What to do to insure that the mistake gets corrected as quickly as possible? Contact both the credit bureau and organization that provided the information to the bureau. Both these parties are responsible for correcting inaccurate or incomplete information in your report under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. 

Tip 3:

Always stay within 50% of your high credit limit on credit cards this will help  build your FICO score.

You can pull a free credit report from First Castle FCU’s  website.

School is out and kids around St. Tammany Parish are enjoying the Summer. Kylie and Katie Stout made sure to stop by First Castle Credit Union so they could cash in their A’s for cash! Kylie and Katie both have a Castle Kids Club account at First Castle credit Union on Hwy 21. ” It is a great way to help motivate the kids to do well in school.” say Crystal Yates their mother.

Pictured above: Sharon Heap, Kylie Stout and Katie Stout

Your money at First Castle Federal Credit Union is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government through the NCUA, National Credit Union Association. The NCUA is a federal agency which charters and supervises federal credit unions. It also insures savings in federal and most state-chartered credit unions across the country with a federal fund backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. Our credit union members have equal consumer protection as bank customers have in the FDIC.

First Castle Federal Credit  has volunteered for the Relay For Life in Covington for the second year in a row . We were able to help raise over $10,000.00 to help with advocacy and research on April 4th at Covington High School. This year we had so much fun at this event. They had everything from ponies to jambalaya!  First Castle FCU set up a game for the children to play. It was great to see the children having so much fun. We were honored to be apart of such a life-changing event that celebrates the lives of those who have battled cancer, remembers loved ones lost, and empowers all of us to fight back against a disease that takes too much.

We have looked at how our Switch Kit can make a switch from a bank to the credit union easy – we do all of the work.  And convenience with 7 “branches” around St Tammany.  The last factor that encourages people to do their banking at a credit union instead of a traditional bank is money.

Money is a great big enticement to switch to a credit union.

Fees that are typically lower than your local bank and better loan rates than your local bank.  That sounds pretty good. If your checking account becomes overdrawn because a deposit was forgotten, we have our courtesy pay option available to you to save the embarrassment of an overdrawn check, and our fees are typically less than what a bank would charge.  Less fees = more money in your pocket.Our loan rates are the best we can offer for our members’ benefit, not always the best for our bottom line.

This guy blogs,

“Banks have made a fortune off me. I had an account with a major U.S. bank for 18 years. I paid an $8 service charge every month. I paid to have my checks returned. I paid to use ATMs. Through my own stupidity, I paid lots of overdraft fees. As my money skills improved, the overdraft fees vanished, but the other fees — and lousy service — remained.  I finally got fed up. Last year, I switched my account to a local credit union.”

So we talked about how easy it is for a customer to switch from a bank to a credit union using a credit union sponsored Switch Kit.  So incredibly easy.  Yet, consumers sometimes STILL hesitate to switch to a credit union.

We once did a focus group to pinpoint why people do or do not take the big switch.  The answer was no surprise – The 2 factors that were cited repeatedly were
1)    convenience and
2)    money

We will address convenience here.

Yes, most credit unions have limited branches because any profits go straight back to customers in the form of lower loan rates or increased savings rates.

FCFCU has 2 branches.  BUT many credit unions belong to a shared branch network.

What does that mean to you?

It means any credit union belonging to this network around the country can transact business for you, representing your local credit union.   You can do business with FCFCU at thousands, thousands! of branches across the nation.

With this in mind, FCFCU has 7 “branches” around St Tammany and even more on the south shore.

7 branches … That’s lots of convenience.

One of the biggest challenges any credit union faces is that of converting long-time big bank customers over to the credit union.

There is no compelling reason for a person to go through the hassle of closing accounts at a big bank and changing all of the account information with their automatic bill pay.  The very thought of moving a checking account from one institution to another is exhausting.

I’m there with you.  It sounds daunting … calling all of the utility companies and loan issuers to change your account information.

So we, along with many credit unions across the country, have instituted a Switch Kit. What this Switch Kit does for you is REMOVE all of the work from your hands.  You give us the information and WE do all of the switching.

We do all of the switching.

This blogger says,

“I had wanted to leave my bank for years, but hesitated because I thought it would be difficult. I was nervous about missing a payment on my home-equity loan, which was pulled automatically from my checking account. I was afraid I’d forget an outstanding check.  I needn’t have worried. The transition was easy. People do this every day.”

It’s true.  You give us the info, and we do the work.

How simple is that?

Founded in 1934, First Castle is the 2nd oldest chartered credit union in the United States. With so many years of serving our credit union members faithfully, we have expanded to St Tammany Parish … with our Community Grand Opening in Covington on July 26th!

Come help us celebrate our Grand Opening on July 26th from 10am to 1pm. Dinero, our resident Castle dragon, is excited to meet our Castle Kid members and is perfecting his picture-taking smile.

We have partnered with the St Tammany Humane Society who will be on site helping us celebrate, and we are proud to have some of our incredibly talented, local artists displaying their amazing work in our lobby.

Please stop by, have your picture taken with Dinero, visit with our community partners, and look around our new branch. We’ll be glad to meet you!

First Castle Federal Credit Union, 100 Cherokee Rose Lane, Covington LA (just south of St Tammany Parish Hospital on Hwy 21)

With gas at $4 a gallon, grocery prices inching up, and with air conditioners across St Tammany working hard in the summer heat, wouldn’t it be refreshing to have someone working to save you money?

Joining First Castle Federal Credit Union, can do just that. The members of our St Tammany credit union work together to help keep car loan rates a little lower than average and savings rates a little higher than average. Those little differences add up to big savings in your pocket.

And as a member of the shared branch network, you have access to your money at thousands of branches across the nation.

Yes, YOU can join!