Financial Fitness: Debt Management and Financial Planning

Financial fitness starts with goal oriented solutions, including financial planning with debt management.

1. Healthy Credit Profile - Starting, maintaining and consistently monitoring are the keys to a healthy credit profile.
2. Debt Management - TAKE CONTROL! This means start living within your means and not letting impulse and pressure make you a victim of unhealthy debt management.
3. Reduce Debt - Rather than making that next purchase, put that money toward managing the debt you currently have.
4. Budget - A financial budget allows for an clear look at our finances.

Members of Credit Unions have the opportunity to benefit not only from high yield savings and checking accounts, but also high return CDs and other benefits. Many customized financial planning and debt management programs are available, including Home Loan Programs, Young Adult Programs, Retirement Financial Planning Programs and more.

This is because credit unions are owned by you, their members. Credit Unions fortify their financial strength by being a not-for-profit organization where profits are returned to their members in the form of lower interest rates and higher yields on savings accounts.

Pros & Cons of Conventional Loans and How to Get Them

There are many types of conventional loans, secured loans, mortgages, signature loans and car loans just to name a few, each with their pros & cons. Certainly you will need to weigh the pros and cons of the types of conventional loans, and how they fit into your financial needs and budget.

Loans will typically fall into one of two categories: unsecured loans and secured loans.

A secured loan, also known as a collateral loan, is where collateral is offered and will be sold by the bank to re-pay the money borrowed in the event of a default on the loan. Banks will usually accept property, stocks and bonds as collateral until the secured loan is paid back in full. Some of the advantages of a secured loan are a chance at having a lower interest rate and convenience. Lenders are more likely to loan money and at a lower interest rate when assets and collateral are used. The risk, of course, is losing the collateral that you or a co-signer has used to secure the loan.

An unsecured loan, or signature loan as it is often referred to, is a loan that is not secured with collateral. These loans are based primarily on your credit rating, the amount of income that you earn and your debt to income ratio. You can expect to have a higher interest rate with an unsecured loan versus a secured loan. However, one of the pros to this type of conventional loan can be the convenience of a quick loan with no application. Imagine how fast a credit card transaction takes place; it can take only a few moments to receive a loan for an item that you want to purchase.