Savings Success Stories
Dare2Compare Success Stories at Firefighters Community Credit Union (FFCCU)
We’re saving people money every day! Read these Dare2Compare success stories to learn how a FREE account review is leading to members’ financial success.
Trisha saved Lori $60,000 in interest on her mortgage!*
Trisha recently helped FFCCU member Lori refinance her first mortgage. Lori locked in a 15-year fixed rate that is nearly 1.5% lower than her previous interest rate. This change is saving her $60,000 on interest charges for the life of her mortgage loan. Trisha also helped Lori refinance her auto loan, and told her about our Great Rate Visa balance transfer rate of 1.99%. Lori was pleased with how much money she was saving, and now she had a low rate credit card to transfer any high debt balances.
Tonja saved a member more than $26,000 in interest payments!*
Tonja spoke with a member who was looking for a $30k signature loan to pay off unsecured debt. Digging deeper, we realized this wouldn’t save much in interest and wouldn’t offer any payment relief. We instead worked up a home equity application that would save the member’s money on interest and most importantly, offer them some payment relief so they would not need to use credit cards or high rate unsecured loans in the future.
We’ve calculated their savings and are excited to share that our member will be saving more than $26,000 in interest over the next 15 years and approximately $1,500/month in minimum payments!
Alan & Janet lowered their monthly payment by $93.32!*
Alan and Janet wanted to find some extra money in their budget. They came into FFCCU’s Wellington branch and had an account review with Melissa (Financial Services Representative). After reviewing their accounts and running a credit report, Melissa discovered that Alan and Janet had a loan from another financial institution with a high monthly payment.
After discussing this further with Alan and Janet, Melissa learned that the couple was paying 10.99% interest and had a monthly payment of $510.56. Melissa knew that it was likely FFCCU could provide Alan and Janet with a better rate.
She worked with the couple on an application for an Auto Loan and they were able to close on the loan the next day. Through FFCCU, Alan and Janet now have an interest rate of 3.36% and their monthly payment is $417.24 and includes GAP + protection! By refinancing with FFCCU, Alan and Janet lowered their monthly payments by $93.32 and will save almost $3,000!
John saved $25,525.12 in interest charges with FFCCU!*
Firefighters Community Credit Union member John came into the Emerald branch to see how he could lower his monthly bills. He spoke with our teammate Trisha DiNardi (Loan Officer) and she was more than happy to help determine if he could save money.
After running a credit report and talking with John, Trisha learned that John had 10-years of mortgage payments remaining and a 9.00% interest rate. After completing some calculations, Trisha explained to John that over the 10-years remaining on his mortgage, he would be paying $42,000.00 in interest.
Working with Trisha, John refinanced his mortgage through FFCCU at a rate of 4.25%. By refinancing his mortgage with FFCCU, he lowered the amount of interest he was going to pay to $16,474.88. John saved $25,525.12 in interest charges with FFCCU!
Kathy lowered her monthly payment by $155.00!*
Kathy visited FFCCU’s Cleveland Westside branch (Emerald Parkway) to do some everyday banking. During the transaction, one of our awesome tellers referred Kathy to Kim, a Financial Services Representative, for a FREE account review.
After reviewing Kathy’s accounts and running a credit report to understand her financial profile, Kim learned that the interest rate on Kathy’s auto loan was 18.98%. After discussing options, Kathy refinanced her auto loan with FFCCU and was able to lower her monthly payment from $465.00 per month to $310.00 per month – a monthly savings of $155.00!*
Kathy also took advantage of EasyPAY and saved an additional .25% off her auto loan with FFCCU which enabled here to afford a warranty too!
Matt shaved 15 years off his mortgage and saved $39,010.20 in interest!*
Matt needed money for some home improvements. He came in to an FFCCU branch for an account review. After meeting with a teammate, he refinanced his mortgage with us from another lender. He also opened a line of credit for future repairs. By refinancing with FFCCU, Matt took 15 years off his mortgage and will save $39,010.20 in interest charges!*
Katie refinanced Mark’s auto loan, saving him $2,132 in interest charges!*
In May, Katie at our Emerald branch did a signature loan for our member Mark. After the loan was completed she reviewed his credit report for opportunities and saw that he had a new auto loan with another institution. After calculating his current interest rate on the auto loan and the amount of interest he would be paying, she did a projection at our current rate he would qualify for. She estimated that we could save him about $20 a month on his payment and about $1000 in interest over the life of the loan.
She emailed Mark and let him know that she had looked over his credit report and recommended that he consider refinancing his auto loan with FFCCU. Once she started his application and went over interest rates and payments, Mark decided he liked the lowest interest rate we could offer at 48 months instead of a 60 month loan like he had. He was OK with raising the payment a little bit because of the interest he would be saving over the life of the loan.
We were able to drop his initial rate of 4.46% to 2.53%, saving him $2,132 in interest charges for the life of the loan and taking a year off his term. All this while only raising his monthly payment by $80.
Carol saved Bash over $6,000 in interest on his auto loan.*
Carol spoke to the cadets at Cleveland’s Fire Training Academy last year. She opened an account for a cadet and discussed an auto loan. At the time he had a small student loan that was paid and little time on his job since he was just finishing the academy. We were not able to help him at the time with the auto but Carol knew he could get approved somewhere (at a scary rate!) and recommended taking whatever financing he could, paying on it for a year, and then refinancing.
Bash came in last night to see Carol, finally ready to refinance.
Carol was able to refinance his auto from 25.19% to 7.23%. He will save $112 per month in principal and interest and over $6000 in interest over the next 48 months!
Trisha & Carol helped consolidate Terence’s debt into one payment when he applied for an auto loan.*
Longtime member Terence was looking to finance a new vehicle. At application, we became concerned about the amount of unsecured debt the member had and that despite excellent credit and payment history, it could jeopardize his future borrowing. Trisha & Carol quickly went to work to find a solution and of course, looked to the member’s home. With enough home equity, we were able to pay off his variable loans first, his variable home equity line of credit, and unsecured debt totaling $36k. The member is saving $400/mo. in minimum payments, reducing the likelihood he’ll need to resort to unsecured debt again.
After consolidating all these into one low payment, we could move forward with the member’s new auto!
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