On behalf of Linn Area Credit Union, I wanted to give a round of applause to Alliant! The Alliant Energy Foundation has given The Teacher Store a generous donation of $1,500. This money will go towards replenishing some of the most popular items in the store, such as Clorox wipes, Kleenex, markers, folders, and backpacks.

On Thursday, January 17th, Leah Rodenberg from the Alliant Energy Foundation stopped by The Teacher Store to present us with the coveted “big check” – and, YES, it actually was a BIG CHECK! She was given the grand tour and was very impressed with how much the store had to offer. (Go here to see some pictures of the Teacher Store.)

“What is this Teacher Store?” you might be asking yourself. The Teacher Store is a non-profit place where teachers can come to get things for their classrooms. We realize that schools cannot afford to supply everything necessary for each classroom and that often means that teachers end up buying things right out of their own pockets.

So in 2008, Linn Area Credit Union joined forces with the Cedar Rapids Education Association to open The Teacher Store, with the goal of providing classroom materials and supplies at no cost to local educators. In fact, the only form of currency accepted at this store is the Teacher Buck. Educators can earn Teacher Bucks in several ways, including by becoming a member of Linn Area Credit Union, being part of the CREA, or even by volunteering at the Teacher Store.

Okay, because YOU are so awesome and a loyal Bloggity Blog reader, we are going to give you a Teacher Buck to print off and give to your favorite educator! Just click on the picture of the blue Teacher Buck  and the picture should appear in its own screen. You can print it off from there, fill it out, and give it to your favorite educator! If you have any trouble, shoot me an email at tbross@linnareacu.org.

So tell us, who was YOUR favorite teacher in school?

Meet Katelynn. Katelynn was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes on September 11, 2010. Since then, she has endured approximately 2,325 shots and over 3,720 finger pokes for blood sugar testing. She now wears a pump that continuously gives her insulin. She wears this pump 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As Katelynn’s parents Eric and Julie point out, “The pump has changed Katelynn’s life, but it is not a CURE.” 

Over 3 million people live with Type I diabetes every day and that number continues to grow. Katelynn’s family and friends have formed a team (lovingly called Team Katie Bug) to participate in the Walk To Cure Diabetes on February 25^th at Westdale Mall. Team Katie Bug is raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which funds research to find a cure for diabetes. The Walk To Cure Diabetes is the largest fundraiser for JDRF. 

Linn Area Credit Union is a very proud sponsor of Team Katie Bug. Their goal is to raise $4,000 and, as of today, they are about 30% of the way! If you would like to help them reach their goal by making a donation to Team Katie Bug, just click here. Remember that donations are tax deductible and greatly appreciated. One more cool thing – you can use your PayPal account to make the donation through the JDRF website, so it really couldn’t be any easier!

Let’s find the cure!

It’s that time again – TAX SEASON! What tipped me off? Certainly, it could have been the Statue of Liberty standing at the corner flailing her arms around, encouraging me to pull on in to get my taxes done.  Or perhaps it was the 7,000 commercials peppering my television screen. But, honestly, guys, it was anticipation of that fat refund check that got my blood a-pumping. I’m sure many of you are picking up what I’m putting down! 

Christmas is over – the visions of sugar plums dancing in my head have been replaced with visions of TVs, basement remodels, a new laptop and other random things that have been on my “want” list for quite some time. With the help of Uncle Sam, I just might be able turn one of my visions into reality (the holdup will be my spreadsheet loving husband). 

For other people, you may want to use your tax refund to pay off credit card or medical bills, apply extra to a home or auto loan, or perhaps your tax refund will simply just help you stretch to another month. 

Many tax preparation places offer refund anticipation loans (also known as RALs). It means that you’ll receive you tax refund immediately (technically, it’s a loan from the tax preparer), but at a “small” cost to you. In the heat of the moment, this may seem like an amazing opportunity! Just slow down for a minute and think it through. We’re all old enough to know that all that glitters is not gold, and often times these refund anticipation loans tend to be put in that category. 

A 2006 study by the Consumer Federation of America found that “based upon the prices for RALs in 2006, a consumer can expect to pay about $100 in order to get a RAL for the average refund of about $2,150 from a commercial tax preparation chain this year.” $100? Seriously?? Just imagine how much someone who received a larger refund would have to pay! Eek! 

Examples help me understand these things better, so let’s set the scene: Hilary goes to get her taxes done. She finds out that she is going to be the lucky recipient of a tax refund. Yippee, Hilary! Hilary can choose to either 1) wait up to 3 weeks to receive her money from the government OR 2) walk out of her tax session today with her money by getting a refund anticipation loan, less a percentage of her tax refund and associated fees.  What should Hilary do? 

My personal advice to Hilary is to just hold out the 3 weeks (though usually it’s less time if you choose to have the monies direct deposited into your Linn Area account). I don’t know about you, but I can think of A LOT of things that I could do with $100!

So sound off below, what do YOU think Hilary should do? Are refund anticipation loans worth it?

If you made $50,000 or less total household income in 2011, we want to make you aware that you may qualify for free tax assistance. The helpful folks at the United Way connect people in need with volunteers through their Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, or VITA. IRS certified volunteers help prepare both federal and state tax returns for you completely FREE of charge.

That’s right…

F-to-the-R-to-the-double-E!!!! 

In 2011 alone, VITA sites in the United Way of East Central Iowa service area generated a total of $2,263,243 in federal refunds. Wow! There are multiple VITA locations in Cedar Rapids. (Quick side note – you can find out more about locations and set up an appointment by dialing 2-1-1.) 

According their website (click here), the VITA program promotes awareness of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) – a refundable federal tax credit that helps low to moderate income individuals offset taxes, supplement low wages, and provide a work incentive. If you qualify for the EITC, you may be eligible for a maximum credit of: 

• $5,751 if you have three qualifying children
• $5,112 if you have two qualifying children
• $3,094 if you have one qualifying child
• $464 if you have no children 

Check out this video about one recipient’s experiences with VITA:

For more information or to schedule an appointment, just dial 2-1-1 or go to www.unitedwayofeastcentraliowa.org/taxhelp. It’s definitely worth a few minutes of your time to find out if this FREE service can save you money!

If you are a high school senior, currently in college or continuing your education – this is your chance to snag one of six 2012 Family Involvement Board scholarships!  These scholarships are made possible by the good people at Iowa Crdit Unions through the Iowa Credit Union Foundation. Here is one important piece of info upfront: Applications are due on Friday, February 3rd, so there’s little room for procrastination (What? Who does that?!?). 

There are two different scholarship programs are available: 

1. High School Scholarship – Scholarships for high school seniors planning to enter college. The high school scholarships include a first-place prize of $1,500; second place of $1,000; third place of $750 and fourth place of $500. 

2. Post-High School Scholarship – Scholarships for post-high school, continuing education students and current college students. The post-high school scholarship category includes two $1,000 scholarships. 

Make sure to read all of the scholarship guidelines and follow the application process (go here for more info). It is very important to note that you must be a credit union member in good standing to be considered. 

Each application is required to answer the following question in no more than 500 words. Essay questions are designed to encourage learning about the credit union movement and its mission. 

2012 FIB Scholarship Essay Question: 

Unfortunately, many Americans try to avoid money matters altogether and deal with problems as they arise. However, even with some knowledge about managing finances, you can maintain a healthy financial life. 

How are you educating yourself on personal finance and money management issues? Please include how you can utilize your credit union’s financial education expertise.

Ready to do this? Of course, you are! These scholarships are going to go to six people – one of them might as well be you! Click here for more information and to fill out the application!

Hey, Marion! You are lucky! I mean, REALLY lucky! We’ve signed on the dotted sign and are excited to announce that we are moving the location of our Marion branch from 985 31st St in Marion to Lincoln View Square, at the corner of 35th St and 7th Ave in Marion! 

Construction is slated to begin in April and we hope to be open for business before next winter.

If you’re curious what the new building will look like, swing into our Edgewood location or click here to see some pics. The new Marion branch will be very, very similar.  Warm, friendly and chalk full of the latest technology to make your banking experience more efficient. This also means that instead of a teller counter, you will be able to conduct all your banking business side-by-side with one of our friendly Financial Services Representatives in one of our teller pods – something that members who go to our Edgewood branch have raved about! Hooray!!! 

What sorts of things are you hoping to see in the new Marion branch? Let us know in the comments below!

Welcome back to Mallory’s Crazy Crash Course in Online Banking! (I just named it that – do you like it?) Last time we talked about the Overview tab and the Account Access tab. Hopefully you had a chance to go play around with both of those. Today we’re going to be finishing up by taking a close look at the Bill Payment tab and the Options tab! 

So grab your morning cup of Joe and let’s do this! Woohoo!!! (Too much sass for this early?) 

The Bill Payment tab actually connects you directly to our bill payer website. Bill payer is a service that you will need to sign up for either by calling 378-0101 or by stopping into one of our branches, but once you are set up, clicking on this tab takes you right to your information and you are ready to pay bills. You can fill out someone you want to pay and the amount and make one time or reoccurring payments.  It also keeps a history of payments made. It’s pretty slick and, best yet, totally free to you. 

And last, but not least, is the Options tab. I could write a whole blog on this tab alone, but this will just be a quick overview of each box under this tab:

• Secure mail
  • A direct and secure way for you to email us at Linn Area Credit Union

• Alerts
  • Set up alerts to be emailed or texted to you (For example: When you hit a certain balance or a certain check number clears you’ll be contacted via email or text.)
  • Set up reminders to be emailed or texted to you (For example: You’ll receive a text or email when a loan payment is automatically coming out on such and such date.)

• Personal options
  • Update personal information
  • Set up preferences (like which screens comes up when you log on or which accounts pop up on the overview screen)
  • Nickname accounts (Confused by all those numbers and dashes? Just nickname your accounts so you know what they are. Eg. Mallory’s checking or Nick’s savings.)

• Additional services
  • Click on e-statements to view PDFs of your statements rather than receiving them in the mail (Not only is this good for the environment, but its way faster than snail mail!)
  • Mobile money. Click on this link to sign up to get access to your accounts from your phone.  (Personally, my favorite feature!)

• Member Requests
  • Apply for a loan, stop payments and much more! 

And one more quick thing, you may notice up in the right hand corner something that says “Members CHAT.” That button will connect you live to one of our Member Service Representatives available during our working hours here at the credit union.

Not a member of e-branch yet? Want to sign up? You can sign up on our website by clicking here. Otherwise, feel free to give us a call at 378-0101 or stop in and let us know you want to get signed up! It’s really that easy!

Are you a current user of our online banking (e-branch)? Did you just get signed up? Either way, this blog may be for you. I am here to give you some tips on how to get the most out of e-branch so that you can do what you want with your money when you want to! This particular blog post is going to be a two parter. I know that when I’m learning something new, sometimes it’s nice to get just little bit of info at a time.

Alright! So when you log into online banking there are 4 main tabs to work with – two of which I’ll talk about today and the other two will be explored next time. I am going to go through each tab and the functions within each one. You may be surprised by some of the things you can do!

 You ready for Part 1?? Here we go! 

Right when you log into e-Branch, the first tab that comes up is the Overview tab (unless you change it in preferences, which we will get to later…). This tab is basically just as it sounds – an overview of up to 5 of your accounts (again customizable) and their balances. You can also do a quick transfer between your accounts and view any scheduled transfers you have set up. Simple and easy, just the way I like it!

The next tab is the Account Access tab. Under this tab you are able to see all of the accounts you are an owner or joint owner of (even other account numbers).  This is the tab that you want to go to if you want to transfer money. You can transfer funds for one time only or set up scheduled transfers. For scheduled transfers, you can set up what day of the month you want it to come out, the frequency and the total number of transfers you want to occur. You can also look at your transfer history. 

These next 2 features you may not know about:  account to account transfer and withdrawal by check. 

Account to account transfer is transferring money from one financial institution to another. We know that Linn Area may not be the home for all your money *insert sad face here*, so we have this handy feature that allows you to transfer money between two accounts – even if one of these accounts is not a Linn Area one (e.g. transferring money to/from a Big Bank account from/to your Linn Area account). For more details, please call 378-0101 or stop in and an account representative would be happy to walk you through getting it set up.

A withdrawal by check means that you would like a paper check withdrawn from your account, made out to you and mailed to you. People may use this feature as a means to transfer money from one financial to another without having to write a check of their own.

So in a nutshell, the Account Access tab is where you can move your moola around. 

On both the Overview tab and the Account Access tab you are able to click on your account and see the current activity and pending transactions. (This does not include credit cards. On credit cards you are able to make payments from e-Branch, but not see activity. To see the credit card activity go to www.mycardinfo.com and get signed up!) Do know that on either of these tabs, you can use transfers to make payments to your loans and your credit card. 

Okay, guys, I think this is a good stopping point! Are you feeling overwhelmed yet? I hope not. In the next blog, I’ll be giving you the inside scoop on the Billpayer tab and the Options tab.

Questions? Just ask below in the comments!

If you have our spiffy Visa Rewards Credit Card or are thinking about getting it (what a great idea), you know that you can redeem your points for some pretty great stuff (click here to see some real life stories of what people have redeemed their points for). Well good news, crazy cats! A couple of options have been freshly added to the Choice Rewards loyalty fulfillment catalog (ohhh, fancy name!):

1)      Car rentals
Within the existing travel catalog, car rentals appear as a separate, easy-to-find category. Within this area, cardholders are able to conveniently reserve cars at all major car rental providers (Avis, Budget, National, Alamo, Hertz and Dollar), as well as some regional agencies (domestic and international). This means that you can choose the car rental option that makes the most sense for YOU!

2)      In-Store Pick Up at Best Buy
You can now select in-store pick-up for electronic merchandise from Best Buy. The new feature will allow cardholders to redeem rewards online and then pick up merchandise within an hour at a local Best Buy store.

If you don’t have one yet, get on it! Click here to get started!

Sound off: What is the coolest thing you’ve ever used your credit card rewards points for?

I know you’ve been on the edge of your seat just WAITING and yearning to know who was the big winner of our Ugly Christmas Sweater contest. The time has come to tell you, grasshopper. The votes poured in and the race was tight! But I can tell you that *clearing throat* the winner is FRANK, er, I mean, MALLORY!!!!

Mallory is famliar to many of you loyal blog followers as she is one of our talented contributers! Well it turns out that she can also make a mean ugly sweater. She penciled us in for an exclusive interview where I asked some pretty hardball questions (take that, Barbara Walters!). Enjoy!

What inspired you to make your Grinch themed sweater?
The Grinch has always been my favorite Christmas story so when I Googled ugly sweaters and a picture of the Ginch came up, I couldn’t resist!

That was a pretty crafty sweater you crafted. What sorts of materials did you use? How long did it take you?
I got a sweater at Goodwill and then I bought a lot of felt… too much felt. Then it was just a matter of cutting stuff out and using heat and bond. I used some jewels for bedazzelment, some mini lights and, of course, jingle bells. 

Did you have the “He’s a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” song playing on repeat while creating your sweater?
No, but now I wish I would have.

How did Frank react to his part in the theme?
Well normally he loves to get his picture taken, but he seemed as thrilled as Max (the dog he was playing) to have the reindeer antlers on.

Do you see yourself donning this sweater again?
I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. It is stashed away with all my other Christmas decorations, just waiting to be unveiled in the future. 

Your sister launched an all-out online assault to lobby for your win. What did you think about that?
I knew my sister had some techy friends because she works at Apple, but I had no idea how far she would take it! I feel like I owe her big time now. 

Did any of your friends of family give you a hard time about your fabulous sweater?
They thought it was great! They are all big fans of Frank. I’m not sure they even saw me in the picture.

How many poses did you try before you settled on the one to submit?
I had to take the picture the morning it was due ,so I had to get my husband out of bed to be the photographer. He was still half asleep so he was not willing to take multiple pictures. I tried to take a few by myself after he went back to bed, but it just wasn’t working out. So what you see is pretty much the only picture that turned out.

Congrats, Mallory!

A big THANK YOU to the LACU peeps that participated in the contest and a very special “Holla!” goes out to all of you fabulous people that voted! Keep your eye on the blog – you never know when that next contest is going to pop up!

In the comments below, tell us about the ugliest sweater you’ve ever worn!