Why you should enroll in Belco’s Visa Extras

Yeah, yeah, I know. That’s just what you need. Another online thing to deal with.

Let me tell you why this one is pretty cool.

My name is David Forbes and I’m the Assistant Vice President of Marketing here at Belco. Why do you care? Because even someone in my position didn’t realize the value of Belco’s Visa Extras until one of my very bright employees pointed out in a staff meeting that you can enroll your debit card in the Visa Extras program.

(By the way, enrollment for all of your cards is free.)

Why is this a big deal? Because I almost never use my credit card. I use my debit card for everything – groceries, gas, prescription refills, online purchases, bookstores, eating out. Pretty much everywhere I can so I don’t have to carry cash.

I thought Visa Extras was just for credit cards, which meant I (incorrectly) believed it didn’t have much value for me.

When I heard you could enroll your debit card I immediately went to the website  to sign up.

Guess what I found out when I got there? I had enrolled my debit card two years earlier and had been racking up points ever since! I’d simply forgotten about it!

So what did that get me?

For doing nothing other than buying the stuff I needed to buy anyway, I’d earned more than 50,000 points I could redeem through the Visa Extras store!

Here’s what  I got:

• Three $25 Barnes & Noble gift cards
• One $25 Amazon gift card

That’s $100 worth of free stuff I got for nothing. Nothing! It doesn’t get any better than that. And I still have 11,000 points left. (And yes, as you can see, I am a bookworm.)

So what are you waiting for?! This is just another way that Belco’s Visa cards — credit or debit — work for you.

The website is https://www.visaextras.com

Enroll today! The only thing you have to lose is free money!

Best,

David Forbes

0% car loans vs. a credit union car loan

A member recently wrote the following:

On your electronic sign on 581, I think it is rather interesting that right after your ad for car loans starting at 5.49%, there is an ad for car loans for another financial institution starting at 0.00% APR. Hmm…I wonder who is getting their money’s worth out of that ad…

I’d like to address this. Not to pick on the member (I’m not), but because he or she brings up a valid point that I’d like to talk about in more detail.

First of all, there is a mistake in the member’s post: it was not an ad for another financial institution. It was an ad for a particular brand of Saturn car. This is not nitpicking — it’s really the reason for this post.

You will never find a financial institution of any kind offering 0% car loans, for one very simple reason: they cannot make money on it. Ever.

So why do car companies do it? And how do they make money?

The short answer is that they don’t make money on the loan. They can’t. You can’t lend out money with a multi-year repayment term that pays no interest and make money. It’s not possible.

Car companies make money on the service after the sale. At least that’s the idea. They hope to entice you to buy a new car that you will maintain at the dealer, and that’s where they’ll make the money. Since financial institutions have no way to service your car (and don’t want to), this isn’t an option for them.

So what should you do?

Simple. If you can find the car you want for 0% and can afford the monthly payment, buy it! It used to be that the 0% financing was limited to no more than 24 months, which mean that on even relatively inexpensive new cars the monthly payments even without interest would be more than a consumer could afford. But hey, the 0% got you in the door, at which point the dealer could then counter-offer an interest-bearing loan so you could get the car you wanted.

The collapse of the auto industry has made auto makers desperate, so now we’re seeing 0% financing extended all the way out to five years, and sometimes six. But they still usually restrict it to one specific model at a time, so if you don’t want that particular car, you’re out of luck.

The moral of the story: if you can find the car you want at 0% and the term is long enough that you can afford the monthly payment, buy it! (I know I would!) Free money is always the best deal in town.

But make sure it’s a car you want. I also know there’s nothing in the world right now that would make me buy a Saturn since the brand is shutting down next year. (And before happy Saturn owners flame me, that’s no slam on the car itself, just the fact that GM is closing the doors. I wouldn’t buy any car from a company that is going out of business.)

What would you like to see?

How would you like to see us use this blog and our other online communication outlets (Facebook, Twitter, email)? Let us know what you think!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Social media outlets are becoming more and more popular. If you’re on Facebook or Twitter, do a search for Belco and you can follow our postings. Our goal is to try to make them topical and community oriented rather than simply pushing products (which would get annoying very fast).

The point of this blog…

You may be wondering why a credit union with its own website might need a blog. The answer is simple. We want to keep in touch with our members and potential members in a more casual manner.

Let’s face it, bank and credit union websites are kind of dull. (Shhh! Don’t let anyone know I said that!) There’s a lot of helpful information on deposit and loan products, investment services, business products, rates, online banking, and more. But that’s just stuff you go to find when you need it. And it’s strictly one-way communication: we’re telling you about what we have.

We want this to be a little more informal. We hope to keep you apprised of new products and services that may be in the pipeline, or the progress of one of our new branches. We might ask you for some feedback about something we’ve done or want to try. This is going to be something of an experiment, so we fully expect this to evolve and change as we move forward.

If you have questions or comments about your account in particular, this is not the place to post them. This is a public blog and is not secured. For any matters pertaining to your account, please go to our website and either call us or email us with your concerns. Thanks.

Dave