Contact a credit union for your stories about...
The League's media contact can help identify a local credit union person you can interview. Or, find a credit union you can contact directly. Credit unions can help you report on:
Personal finance skills
- Attitudes about money
- Back-to-school costs - how to prepare
- Bankruptcy (problems filers face, cost to consumers, how to avoid, alternatives)
- Budgeting
- Car buying (new/used/online)
- Children (teaching them about money, financial planning before having a baby)
- College students' money needs/credit use
- Co-signers on loans (risks/issues)
- Credit counseling to avoid/get out of debt
- Debt (avoiding it, consolidation, getting out)
- Elderly (special financial needs, elder financial abuse)
- Emergency fund
- Financial literacy; education efforts by credit unions (adults/youth/schools)
- Gambling (its effects on families and their finances)
- Holiday spending (how to stick to a plan)
- Homebuying/financing
- Home equity borrowing considerations
- Identity theft (protect yourself against, what to do if yours is stolen)
- Investing: inhibitors, best practices
- Job loss & keeping a family afloat financially
- Payday lending pitfalls
- Saving money (account options, succeeding with planning and budgeting, reducing fees on financial services, to address special needs like retirement, college, starting a family, etc.)
- Used cars (how to evaluate or finance)
- Utility bill payment/keeping costs down
- Women's special financial needs
Financial products & services
- ATMs (CUs' nationwide no-fee network; fees & how to avoid them)
- Bill payment electronically
- Business loans, lines of credit, SBA financing
- Car buying/leasing
- Check-cashing outlets/cash advance
- Checking accounts
- Christmas club accounts
- College financing
- Credit card use/scams
- Credit reports (building good ratings, correcting errors, how they influence your purchasing)
- Credit unions (advantages, differences compared to banks)
- Direct deposit (how it works)
- Electronic transactions
- Emergency cash needs
- Financial planning
- Home banking
- Home equity loans
- Investments
- Loans (understanding interest rates, auto, mortgage, home equity, personal, college, etc.)
- Mortgages (financing tips)
- Online transactions/banking
- Payday loans (the risks and alternatives)
- Refinancing a mortgage or other loan
- Retirement planning
- Scams (the latest and how to avoid them)
- Terrorism (monitoring persons, blocking/reporting funds)
- Zero percent financing (hidden costs, pitfalls)