Kelli Green: 0:01

Well, thank you guys, so much for joining us for today's Live Better podcast. Today, we're actually going to be going over some really cool things that's happening. In the month of March, we have launched a new banking system as well as an online banking platform, which you, as our members, will be able to take advantage of all sorts of neat features and benefits that we're really excited to talk to you about today. So hop on in, join us for a really short overview of the things that you can expect as a member with our new online banking platform. Well, we are super excited to share. The time has finally arrived. Our new online banking platform is live, and we're really excited about all the new features and benefits that are offered through this mobile app. So anyone with App Store and also Google Play, you have the ability to download our new mobile app, and some of the things that we're really most excited about and we really want to share with you guys is that there's three cool things.

Kelli Green: 1:00

One we have a really unique opportunity for you to manage your credit score. What this does is allows you to take a look a soft pull, if you will. This is not actually a hard inquiry into your credit report, but it will give you insights on what's being reported to the credit bureaus, how your payments are being applied. You can also manage your credit score in this regard. The neat thing about it is there's some kind of financial wellness tips, if you will. Those of you that have been listening along with us know that that is really our bread and butter. That's why we exist is to really help our members live better. With this managing of your credit score, you have the ability to see and learn more about ways in which you can increase your credit score, but also if there might be some habits that we've really gotten used to that are causing our credit score to be negatively impacted, meaning that our score is trending downward. This information within inside of our mobile online banking platform will give you guidance to help you say okay, here's some things I might need to do a little differently whether it's making payments on time, really maybe thinking about, are we overextended with our debt? So it gives you some opportunities before you go in and maybe speak with a loan officer. You can talk through some different solutions there that might be beneficial to increasing, one, your credit score, but two, your overall future buying power.

Kelli Green: 2:24

The other side of that, too, is we have a really unique option for you to create your budget and within that is that you can create what we call tags on all of your transactions. So, for example, if you have your gasoline or fuel purchase that you may have at a convenience store, you can tag those purchases transportation or fuel so that you're able to see how that impacts your budget. Same way for things like grocery or expense personal expense for yourself, or personal expenses maybe for your children or other loved ones that might live within your home. So the really cool thing about that is you set your own personal budget you line out every single month. You can do this the very first time one time and leave it alone. That's great. Or if you want to apply this every single month, you can go in and make some tweaks, but the first time you set up your budget and then you create those tags on all of your transactions, from that day forward those tags will be set. That's really awesome. It's something that you can kind of set it and forget it.

Kelli Green: 3:25

So what does that mean? Every time you set up a budget so say, each month, you've got a thousand dollars set aside for groceries you have $500 set aside for fuel. If you have set up tags to say this is a grocery expense, this is a transportation or fuel expense, once you tag those transactions, those will forever be impacted on your budget. It will start from that day forward and you will be able to see where along the month in that time frame where your budget is really being impacted. So I really love that because it really helps me identify one where am I maybe falling short in savings goals? Two, have I overspent with groceries? But it gives you goals and progress within those budgets, set budgets along the way. So you really have an idea of knowing okay, I'm getting really close. I might want to kind of be careful or consider some different spending or maybe consider, wow, maybe I haven't allotted enough money during the month for certain expenses along the way, but it's a really, really awesome way for you to one budget every month. Two, you're hitting all of your savings goals. And three, it keeps everybody in the family accountable for what it is that we're doing. You're telling your money where to go instead of your money telling you where it's been.

Kelli Green: 4:41

And the final thing there, too, that we want to share is the conversations piece. So what do I mean by that? Once you've logged into the mobile bank, once you're inside that platform, it is a two-factor authenticator, meaning this is a secure connection. This is something that you set up that is secure, within that, if you have a charge on your account, something that you don't recognize, you can immediately click that transaction, and then you can pose a conversation to our back office team, and we will be able to answer that within if it's within the business hours. We usually answer those comments within 10 minutes.

Kelli Green: 5:18

So you're looking at that to say, hey, this is a charge on my account I'm not familiar with. You can dispute that charge right there. That's all you have to do. Talk about a relief. If you don't want to pick up the phone and call someone or shoot a text. It's very simple for you to start a conversation within the online banking platform. I think you'll find that this will be really awesome. Even, too, you can actually initiate a skip a pay If you have a loan here with us at Centric. You simply initiate the skip a pay and you're rolling. There's not a whole lot to it. There's not a whole lot of documents. You're literally operating this just from your mobile app.

Kelli Green: 5:56

So those are just a few of the highlights that I really wanted to share with you today, because we're super excited A lot of work and time that's gone into this. So you take a look. If you run into any issues or something that you'd like to see on our mobile app, please let us know, and you can visit us online at mycentricorg to learn more or even to share more information with us. This mobile app was created with you in mind, and so it's really important to us that you share if there's any opportunities that we might have to make this a better experience for you. So, as we get to rolling in in the month of March, we know and we hope to see some warmer temperatures and some things in bloom, so that might mean that spring is here and we want to freshen up a few things. So why not? If you're spring cleaning, let's spring clean our finances. Like we've mentioned today, with the update of our mobile app, there's lots of ways for you to stay accountable with your budgets and really setting goals throughout the rest of the year for you.

Kelli Green: 6:53

So there's a few things I really want to share with you as you're looking through to set these budgets. I would also consider a few things. Go through your account, scan a few things here. Notice what are some unnecessary expenses that you might be able to reduce. Two, do you have some subscriptions that you need to cut out because maybe you're not using them or perhaps they're just not what they're cracked up to be? So really consider those things.

Kelli Green: 7:18

Another thing I will share with you is, if you're making online payments, be aware if there are any fees that maybe that this is a convenience fee for you to pay. It could be your child's dance tuition, it could be baseball tuition, anything that. You take a look that you're paying online, ask if there is a convenience fee that's associated with that. If you're paying those convenience fees every single month, you take that total, you multiply that by 12 and that's what's costing you just for a convenience payment. I would encourage you to take a look into that.

Kelli Green: 7:54

I will tell you a personal story for me. So both of my girls actually dance, and so I pay monthly tuition for to their dance studio. I was able to see that the total amount that I was spending was astronomical. So now I pay in a different form of payment, so that, one, I know that it's timely, but, two, I'm not spending extra, any extra money, because there's no need for that. So that extra money that I was spending is really just going to to pay for that, whomever it is. It's providing that convenient service to the dance studio to make those payments, whereas those funds can go right back into my actual budget. That's beneficial to us. That's an overall savings of money that sometimes flies out of our window and we have no idea about.

Kelli Green: 8:37

The other thing I really want to talk to you about is, as you're thinking about freshening up your finances, it's critical to speak with a financial counselor. We have the ability to take a look at your credit report and, just like you, alongside your mobile app, you can take a look at your credit report and, just like you, alongside your mobile app, you can take a look at this and see what is actually reporting and what are some things that you might be able to do. Is a debt consolidation something that might be beneficial for you? Is it time for you maybe to sell a few things? Do you have some things at home that you're not using and you might be able to sell? I know these things seem like it's a little radical, but you really want to think through it. If you're in a situation where you're ready to become debt-free, you want to live in financial freedom, there's a possibility that you can do that, and the steps are not too hard and the opportunity is not too far away when you just create a plan and we're here to help you do that.

Kelli Green: 9:26

If you're interested in freshening up your finances with a member of our team, contact us online at mycentricorg. You can even call us or text us at 318-340-9656. I hope you've enjoyed this podcast today and we look forward to chatting with you next month. Thanks for tuning in to the Live Better Podcast with Centric. Be sure to subscribe and follow us on social media at MyCentric. We look forward to seeing you next month. Centric is federally insured by the NCUA.