MoneyWisdom Blog

Receiving your first paycheck at your first job is a rite of passage into adulthood. It feels good to look at that piece of paper and know that you earned the income it represents. Your hard work means you have money to spend as you like!

In the past, there was only one way to cash that check: You signed the back and brought it into your financial institution, where it might take a few days to clear before you got your money.

Today, there are multiple ways to cash your first payroll check...and you don't even have to wait for the check to clear with some of them! Here's how:

Wouldn’t you like to know immediately if someone if trying to tap into your home equity line? You can when you set alerts through Online Access HD on your Hanscom FCU accounts. The alerts will appear by email, text, or phone to let you know, and in seconds, you'll be aware if someone is attempting to guess your login ID or if an invalid password has been submitted.

Over half of all U.S. adults use online banking services.* Are your concerns about banking online stopping you from joining in? You may be surprised to learn it’s more secure than ever and virtually anything that can be done in-person can now be done, well, virtually. Take a moment to erase your fears and dispel some myths of mobile banking.

You're busy. You have big plans for the future, places to go, friends to meet. Does it really make sense to spend time bouncing from one website to another to check out your car loan, another to pay your mortgage, and yet another to look at your checking account balance? That’s so 2008!

Contrary to what you might believe, online banking is actually safer than doing things the old-fashioned way. Here’s why:

We typically think of a checking account as a tool to help us manage the ho-hum aspects of our daily financial lives: we use it write checks for the babysitter, to get cash from the ATM at lunchtime, and to pay for groceries after work. We don't usually think of our checking accounts as something that can save us – or make us – money. But maybe we should rethink our checking. 

If you or a family member will be attending college soon, you’ve probably noticed that the sticker price for a college education has risen considerably in recent years. According to Sallie Mae’s study How America Pays for College 2016, families spent on average $23,688 for college in the 2015-16 academic year, and two in five of them borrowed at least some money to help pay the tab.

My daughter made a purchase at a mall store recently. She stood at the register, counting out change from her piggy bank. The folks in line behind us smiled indulgently, charmed by her earnestness.

Try that at a busy grocery check-out, and you’ll more likely get an eye roll. Faster is better when your ice cream is melting on the conveyor belt.

Did you know you can access your Hanscom FCU accounts at any CO-OP Shared Branch? That’s 5,484 locations from coast to coast.

I love modern technology – especially in the world of financial services. It has given local banks and credit unions the ability to provide the same service as the big banks and yet still maintain that local flavor and outstanding member service.