Cents & Sensibility

I have worked for CEFCU for nearly 20 years and I feel very fortunate and thankful to work for an organization that cares about the people in our community. My colleagues and I were asked to tell about our experiences while volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC) – Meals from the Heart Program. I will share more on that in just a moment.

One of the most terrible crimes, in my opinion, is when fraudsters focus on seniors.  According to a 2017 CNBC article, one in 18 older adults fall prey to financial abuse each year.  We would all like to believe it will never happen to us or someone we know, but senior financial abuse is on the rise.

Remember a time when you held a door for an elderly person, or let someone in front of you at the check-out line, or helped someone pick up papers they had dropped?  Remember the feeling you got when they thanked you?  How you felt when they smiled at you and were so appreciative?  That is a feeling of accomplishment and happiness.  We as employees of CEFCU get the chance to change peoples’ lives and serve them every day – and one way is by partnering with the Heart of Illinois United Way.

In 2013, my husband and I built a modest home amongst beautiful, aged Oak and Walnut trees overlooking Midwestern cornfields with the intent of adding a patio/deck in the near future.  The land was still rough, and we (mainly him- bless his heart) spent the next few years taming the property and slowly making our house a home.

In the age of HGTV and Pinterest, home remodels are seemingly easy, affordable and instantaneous.  By the end of an hour-long episode, you have bought a house, gutted it, re-constructed as well as re-landscaped and are already lounging in your new Mid-Century Modern living room.  Sure, they usually throw in a plot twist by conflicting one of the agreed upon project constraints of schedule, cost, or quality.  But, in the end, the short struggle is trumped by the homeowner’s astonishment at the transformation of their surroundings and so are we as viewers.

When is the last time you checked your credit score? Have you ever checked your credit score? This article will give a brief overview of what information creates the basis for your credit score using Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) Score as well as different types of credit accounts and inquiries.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could…
…get a loan more quickly and easily than ever before?
…avoid signing your name over and over on a stack of paperwork?
…complete the entire process without even leaving the house?
Now you can!

We all must do some form of public speaking at one time or another and if you are like most people, you have some fear of it. Work, school, church, clubs, social, and family gatherings all give you opportunities to speak in small or large groups with people you know and don’t know. There is a group that helps you build the skills and confidence in developing public speaking and this group is called Toastmasters.

Easterseals is a non-profit organization that provides health and human services to people of all ages with disabilities or needs, as well as provides support to their families. For over 85 years, Easterseals has assisted more than 1 million people around the United States and Puerto Rico at more than 550 locations. Funding from different agencies and private companies offer some financial help, but Easterseals relies greatly on public contribution. CEFCU is one example of an organization that prides itself on being involved in the surrounding communities, and therefore contributes donations to Easterseals each year.

CEFCU recently completed our 12th annual canned food drive to benefit local families.  Once again, employee donations broke the previous year’s record, with a total of 11,817 items donated to local food pantries!  These non-perishable food items can provide a bag of groceries for over 800 families.