NSLNEWZ. College Student Check-Up. Create a Budget

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1 NSLNEWZ NONE SUFFER LACK FEDERAL CREDIT UNION F A L L I N T H I S I S S U E : College Student Check-Up 1 Create a Budget 1 Minimize Student Debt Take Care with Credit Cards Protect Personal Information Annual Credit Union Meeting First-Time Home Buyers Seminar N S L F C U H O U R S TUES: 9AM-6PM WED-FRI: 9AM-4PM SAT: 9AM-1PM U P C O M I N G C L O S I N G S Staff Training October 22 Veteran s Day November 11 Thanksgiving Holiday November 24 & 25 Christmas Holiday December 23 Closed at Noon College Student Check-Up While college students might roll their eyes at the idea of making a budget, knowing how to manage money is vital to the college experience. Whether your child is paying his or her own way, receiving your help, using financial aid, or a little of all three, college is an expensive experience that becomes pricier with poor spending practices. Create a Budget Carefree high school students frequently s p e n d w h a t e v e r money they have, living off their parents generosity or the spoils of a part-time job. Once that student moves away to college, a budget bec o m e s c r u c i a l. Whether or not your child has been exposed to a budget, it s important that you sit down together to look at finances. Map out his or her various streams of income, including money you ll provide, income from a job, and money coming from student loans, grants, and other By passing on a few words of wisdom, you can give your freshman the tools he or she needs to start college on the right financial foot.* types of financial aid. Then, show your college freshman how to categorize expenses so he or she knows where it s all going. While you can t force your student to stick to a budget, you can feel confident he or she knows how to use one and has a clear picture of what is and isn t affordable.* Christmas Eve December 24 *Articles are the property of

2 P A G E 2 Minimize Student Debt There are several ways to minimize student debt. Make sure you cover all the bases before sending your freshman off to school. Spend on the Right Things. Naturally, college students shouldn t use financial aid to fund pizza night in their dorm rooms, but temptation is a powerful thing. Take the time to impress the importance of using debt wisely. Even if loans look like free money now, they do come back to bite you. Define what is and isn t okay for your child to use loan money for. Tuition, books, housing, and maybe food plans not social outings or new clothes. Borrow Only What s Required. Not every student heads off to school with a fully-funded college trust. If your child needs to take out student loans remind your freshman that it should be for school. Taking out more cash to fund an extravagant campus lifestyle might seem important now, but could be a serious problem later. Freshmen should start a pattern of living frugally now so that they re not paying interest on things like a bigger dorm room or fraternity fees later. Fund Extras with a Job. If your child wants to fund a social life, it should be done with a part-time job rather than student loans. Work-study positions usually offer the flexibility a student needs with the convenience of location, while off-campus positions frequently pay more. Either way, teach your child to have a pay now policy for nonessential purchases so that he or she doesn t really pay for them later. Funnel Extra Earnings to Loan Payments. Try to add extra loan payments into your child s budget by using funds from a part-time job or from monetary gifts to help pay down student debt. While loans technically aren t due until after graduation, paying them off while in school can help your student save serious money when it comes to long-term interest.*

3 N S L N E W Z P A G E 3 Take Care with Credit Cards If going to college is like setting sail in a vast ocean, then credit card companies are the sharks. They specifically prey on new and inexperienced freshmen, banking on the notion that they are strapped for cash and excited about the prospect of easy money. They also expect freshmen to be careless with credit cards, racking up late fees and high interest payments. Credit card companies often lure students in with collegecentric offers, such as the promise of free concert tickets or free college swag. Freshmen should never sign up for a student credit card on a whim. Instead, they should talk about the pros and cons of different cards with their parents and set a r e a s o n a b l y l o w spending limit. You may want to start your child off with a debit card while in college. It may sound foolproof, but when you consider things like impulse spending and overdraft fees, you want to make sure your student is responsible enough to manage a debit card before introducing a credit card.* With a NSLFCU Debit Card you can prep your child by setting him or her up with a student checking account and debit card so they can start learning to manage their money before they head off to college. With the NSL Debit Card your child will soon learn that once the money in his or her account is gone, it s gone.

4 P A G E 4 Protect Personal Information When it comes to identity theft, college students are some of the hardest hit and the most oblivious to the crime. According to Javelin Strategy and Research, the 18 to 24 demographic has the highest risk for identity theft, and the average individual from that demographic took 132 days to detect and report the fraud. Caution your child not to share personal information. Simple things like giving a password to a friend, providing Social Security numbers where unnecessary, or leaving personal documents or a debit card lying around, can open up college students to identity theft. To catch theft before it goes too far, students should check bank and credit accounts regularly, reporting any suspicious activity immediately. While identity watch services are available, the monthly fees may not fit into a college student s budget. Instead, your student should pay attention to his or her account and order a free yearly credit report from all three of the reporting bureaus through Annual- CreditReport.com. It s an unfortunate drawback to college life, but if vigilant, it doesn t need to color the college experience.*

5 N S L N E W Z P A G E 5 Annual Credit Union Meeting Celebrating 15 Wonderful Years Brittany Cunningham, Chairman of the NSLFCU Board At this year s Annual Credit Union Meeting we celebrated None Suffer Lack s 15th Anniversary. We honored Sis. Shelby Jackson, who retired as the Supervisory Committee Chair after four years of dedicated service. Sis. Florenciannette Jordan assumed the Chairmanship on September 22, We would like to thank all those in attendance, and we look forward to the years ahead. Supervisory Committee (From left to right) Shelby Jackson, Belinda Miller, Clarence Carter, Florenciannette Jordan, Anne Sanyu Lutu, Candace Milbry (not pictured), and Tameka Young (not pictured) NSLFCU Staff (From left to right) Gina White, Toni Hopkins, Ollie Thomas II, and Serena Holloman

6 P A G E 6 First-Time Home Buyers Seminar Second Annual Home Buying Seminar Our Second Annual First -Time Home Buyers Seminar was an exciting and educational event. Residential Mortgage Corporation CEO Bro. Derick Hungerford taught an engaging session, including information concerning different programs first-time home buyers may take advantage of to assist with up to $20,000 in closing costs. This seminar was a wonderful opportunity to help our members plan for the future. We d like to offer a special thanks to all who participated.