I reached out to one of our new union members, who set up his Online Services and had even done a check deposit using the Mobile Banking app. But, because he hadn’t yet upgraded his Vacation Fund account, the full deposit was not immediately available in his account. I confirmed he was eligible to upgrade to a Simply Checking, so he would have more access to his deposits and the ability to transfer funds to and from other bank and credit union accounts quickly and easily. When I explained all of this to him, he agreed upgrading his account was the way to go!

The other day I helped a member who had been with the union for a while, but hadn’t been to the branch to access his account, and wanted to get more information about his Vacation Fund at Qualstar. We hadn’t yet received all of the information to fully complete his membership, so I told him about the benefits of being a member at Qualstar; such as, access to our Online Services with Mobile Check Deposit, a full selection of financial services, and so much more!

When this member called to apply for an auto refinance to move his high rate auto loan to a lower rate Qualstar loan, I knew I could help him save some of his hard-earned money. I asked his current rate and if he had an idea of his credit score, and after he provided that information I told him we can definitely get him out of that horrible high rate loan. After taking the loan application and running some initial numbers, I asked about his other auto loan that might also be in need of a lower rate and/or payment since he had a good amount of equity in his vehicle.

I assisted a member who came in simply to deposit his check with cash back, and while processing his request I asked where his vehicle was financed to see if we could save him some money. He said it was, “some bank in California” and wasn’t sure on the rate, but he knew it was high. I asked if he wanted to see if we could get him a better rate – he said his credit wasn’t good, and he didn’t have time to do an application right then, but he was interested in lower payments.

This member called in back in November to get some help with his personal loan due to having a hard time with his finances, and wanted to ask about options for reducing the monthly payments. We talked about solutions other than a loan modification and I thought, if the member was struggling with this one payment, was he struggling with others…?

I followed up with this member after she submitted an online application to convert her Gateway Line of Credit to a Visa Gold Credit Card for additional benefits. While going over her application, I noticed she had two auto loans and additional credit cards that appeared to have high interest rates. After we finished the Visa Gold request, I asked if she knew what her interest rates were on those other loans, and after a few quiet moments she said, “Not good at all.” I told her I would do some calculations to see if we could help her refinance the auto loans, and possibly consolidate the credit cards at a lower interest rate. She liked the idea, but was in hurry to go back to work and promised to call back and let me know how to proceed.

A non-member stopped by the Everett branch on a Friday to open an account – we didn’t have an appointment available at that time, but I stepped outside to see how I could help and we scheduled an appointment for the following week. To get the process started before then, I suggested she go to our website to apply for membership over the weekend…

Back in December 2019, I contacted this member because I knew we could help make his money work harder for him. There had been a sizable balance in his checking for quite some time, and I told him we had a fantastic rate on our Premier Money Market. I wanted him to know he could earn more on his balance, and all it would take is a simple shift of funds within his account. What I didn’t realize then, is he would very quickly become an extremely loyal member…

This member has been waiting over 5 years to get his dental work done but never really could afford it, so he decided to call and see if he could get a personal loan. After we approved his request we sent his loan documents electronically that same day, and he called after 5pm because the loan had not funded due to the documents not being received back. He was really stressing out – he’s been waiting years for this day to finally come, and had an appointment first thing in the morning that he may have cancel if he doesn’t have the money to pay for his dental work. I told him I would reach out to the loan processor first thing in the morning to make sure it gets funded, but he said he wouldn’t be able to sleep without knowing for sure it will be in his account before the appointment. By now my shift had ended, but I wanted to see if there was any way we could help this member get a restful sleep. I called Loan Processing (it was almost 6pm at this point) and we were able to fund the loan right away. When I called to let him know, he was so happy and said to me, “You have no idea how much this means to me. I can finally calm down and go to my appointment in the morning without worrying!”

I contacted this member to follow up from when we tried to refinance his vehicle in December 2019, but that time he didn’t get approved. I told him I would love to see what we could do for him now – luckily he remembered our previous conversation, and wanted to see if we could save him some money. I took his application and this time he was approved! With his refinanced auto loan, his payment is lower and his APR decreased from 30.27% to 6.99%. THAT IS HUGE SAVINGS of $119 a month on his payment, which ends up saving him over $5,900 in total over the full term of the loan.