ēCO News

What’s Happening

p. 2

Winter 2016

?

Click here to learn more about ēCO Mortgages!

Melissa Stewart • ēCO Credit Union Marketing Director

Buying a home, especially your first, is filled with emotions. Of course, you are excited and anticipate all of the fun memories to be made in your new home, but it can also be a nerve-wracking experience.

I recently purchased my first home and wanted to share a few tips that helped my husband and me feel confident throughout the process:

1. Prepare your finances before you begin.Have an emergency fund or savings account in place. Even if you choose a 100% financing option, the costs of purchasing a home add up. From a home inspection to any repairs or updates you want completed before you move in, having cash on hand can simplify the process and help you feel more at ease.Monitor your credit report. Your credit score can play a huge role in being

able to qualify for a mortgage. Be sure to check your credit report to confirm all is accurate. Also, if your credit score needs some work, begin taking steps to improve it. If you don’t know how to access your credit report or would like someone to review it for you, stop by any of our ēCO branches to talk with a branch manager.

2. Get pre-approved.Before we even began our house hunt, we reached out to Judd Davis, ēCO’s Mortgage Underwriter, for a pre-approval letter. Knowing how much home we could afford helped us get started. It also prevented us from falling in love with a house that was out of our price range.

3. Choose a realtor you trust.Before starting my own homebuying process, I had no idea how much having a realtor helps. My husband and I were so thankful to work with someone we know and trust. From listening to our needs and setting up showings, to providing us with comparable sales in our area to be sure we paid the best price for our new home, our realtor was on our team and helped us get to closing quickly.

4. Finance with ēCO Credit Union.ēCO helped make the process smooth and simple. Judd was patient to answer all of our many questions and worked hardto be sure all was handled accurately and efficiently. ēCO also keeps all of their mortgages in-house and does not charge PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance). To get started today, call 226.3902. You can also attend our eCO Savings Race University course on February 7 to learn more about home buying and credit scores.

p. 4

Tips for First-Time Home Buyers

A Message From Your CEOBy Joey Hand

When the calendar rolls over to a new year, I like to take a moment to pause and reflect on the previous year, while also looking forward with anticipation to the new year.

We are excited about all of the great things that happened at ēCO in 2016. We rolled out a new Mobile Banking App and continued to update other services to best serve our members. We began construction on our Alabaster branch, which will allow us to continue to meet the needs of our members in Shelby County. We helped three fam-ilies improve their financial pictures by more than $60,000 through the Fourth Edition of the ēCO Savings Race, and we’ve already seen great progress from our Fifth Edition teams. We donated more than ever before to Children’s of Alabama. We also got to hear countless stories of how ēCO’s products and ser-vices helped our members reach their financial goals, and that’s what it’s all about!

We already have great plans to continue to meet the needs of our members and the community in 2017. In the coming months, we will be rolling out Remote Deposit Capture through our Mobile App. This will allow our members to se-curely make deposits while on the go. Beginning in February, we will begin a First-Time Home Buyers promotion to help the dream of home ownership become a reality for our members. We have also ramped up our ēCO Credit Union Foundation fundraising efforts, which will allow us to provide more financial education to our schools and the community. We have increased the amount of our scholarships, as well as our scholarship offering to help meet more needs. Great things are happen-ing at ēCO Credit Union!

Thank you for continuing to trust ēCO to meet your financial needs. We look forward to continuing to better serve you in 2017!

What’s Happening

?ēCO Savings Race

UniversityVestavia Hill Library

1221 Montgomery Hwy., Vestavia Hills

January 21, 9 a.m.Couponing & Car Buying

February 7, 6 p.m.Home Buying & Credit Scores

March 7, 6 p.m. Retirement & Wills and Trusts

April 1, 9 a.m.Meal Planning & Budgeting

ēCO Annual MeetingFebruary 16 • 7 p.m.

Join us for our Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting will take place at

Homewood Middle School.

Scholarship DeadlineMarch 3

A.L. Bratcher and ēCO Credit Union Foundation Scholarship Applications

are due.

Holiday Closings:

January 2New Year’s Day

January 16Martin Luther King Day

Even when your favorite ēCO branch is closed, you can access your account through ēCO Online, Mobile Banking,

and Voice Response

Alabaster Open House & Ribbon Cutting

February 2 • 10 a.m.

We will celebrate our new Alabaster branch with an Open House and Ribbon

Cutting. Light refreshments will be served.

ēCO in the Community

“Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives

much.”

-Erich Fromm

After Hurricane Matthew impacted students from Union Elementary School in Clinton, North Carolina, Team Jackson, from the ēCO Savings Race, joined together with their school, J. S. Abrams Elementary School, and community to help gather supplies for students who were affected. ēCO was excited to be able to donate 1,000 pencils, 650 folders, and over 400 markers to their supply drive. Their ēCO Savings Race coaches delivered the supplies and met with Team Jackson and school principal, LaRhonda Aikerson.

Through a partnership with Banzai, the ēCO Credit Union Foundation provides financial education materials to schools located in the Shelby County area. We were excited to drop off materials at Calera Middle School, Columbiana Middle School, Cornerstone Christian School, Linda Nolen Learning Center, and Thompson Middle School to help students learn more about finances.

ēCO member, James Stovall, was the winner of our Auto Loan promotion. He received $1,000!

Thanks to the generosity of our members, vendors, schools, the community, and a $10,000 CO-OP Miracle

Match, ēCO was thrilled to donate $47,571.32 to Children’s of Alabama in 2016!

File your taxes the smarter way and save! TurboTax® translates taxes into simple questions about your life, so you don’t need tax knowledge – or an appointment – to get your taxes done right.

• Get your maximum refund. TurboTax searches over 350 deductions and credits to make sure you get your biggest possible refund, guaranteed.

• Be sure nothing gets missed. TurboTax CompleteCheck™ reviews every detail in your return, walks you through any final changes, and gives you the green light to file.

• You’re never alone. Connect with an expert live, on-screen to get answers when you need them with TurboTax SmartLook™.

ēCO Credit Union members can get up to $15 off TurboTax federal products. Get start-ed today and save!

State filing charges apply. Limited time offer for TurboTax 2016. Terms, conditions, features, availability, pricing, fees, service and support options subject to change without notice. Intuit, TurboTax and Tur-boTax Online, among others, are registered trademarks and/or service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other parties' trademarks or service marks are the property of their respec-tive owners. Visit http://turbotax.intuit.com/lp/yoy/guarantees.jsp for TurboTax product guarantees and other important information.

Did a financial goal make its way on your 2017 resolution list?

At ēCO Credit Union, it is our priority to help our members, as well as the community, reach their financial goals. As we kick off the new year, we have a few ways we plan to help:

• ēCO Savings Race University: ēCO Savings Race University courses are designed to teach attendees practical financial tips. We have a great line-up of courses that we will begin offering in January. View What’s Happening or visit www.ecosavingsrace.org for all of the details. We hope you will take advantage of these great classes.

• Resolution Loan: Did you rack up high-interest credit card debt during the holidays? ēCO’s Resolution Loan is designed to help you pay it off and lower your interest rate. At 6.75% APR with terms up to twelve months, the loan is a great way to get back on track.

• Social Media Tips: ēCO is on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Follow us to be sure you don’t miss any of the great financial tips we share, including ēCO Savings Race Take Away Tips.

• Branch Staff: We are all about finding solutions at ēCO. Stop by a branch and let one of our great employees look over your finances to see if ēCO can help or even, save you money!

We look forward to helping you reach your financial goals!

2017

Alabaster Office 507 First Street NorthAlabaster, AL 35007

Phone: 205.226.3951M-F 9:00 AM-5:00 PMDrive-Thru: 9:00 AM-

5:30 PMNew Location Coming Soon: 791 Fourth Place Southwest

Clay Office2430 Old Springville

Road, Suite 100Birmingham, AL 35215Phone: 205.226.3940M-F 9:00 AM-5:00 PMDrive-Thru: 9:00 AM-

5:30 PM

Gardendale Office1233 Pecan Avenue

Gardendale, AL 35071Phone: 205.226.3948M-F 9:00 AM-5:00 PMDrive-Thru: 9:00 AM-

5:30 PM

Homewood Office* Jefferson County Board of

Education & Homewood City Schools Board of Education

Employees OnlyPhone: 205.226.3959M-F 9:00 AM-4:30 PM

Closed from 12:30-1:00

McCalla OfficeColonial Promenade

Tannehill4933 Promenade Park-

way Suite 113Bessemer, AL 35022

Phone: 205.226.3944M-F 9:00 AM-5:00 PM

Riverchase Office3746 Lorna Road

Birmingham, AL 35216Phone: 205.226.3938M-F 9:00 AM-5:00 PMDrive-Thru: 9:00 AM-

5:30 PM

Locations and Office Hours

Toll-Free: 1.877.217.0513 | Member Services: 205.226.3900 | Voice Response: 205.250.6141 | Mortgage Department: 205.226.3902 | www.ecocu.org

Fourth QuarterDividends

The fourth quarter dividends on savings (Share) accounts are

at the following levels:

Tier 1 ($100,000 or more): 0.40 APY

Tier 2 ($75,000-$99,999): 0.30 APY

Tier 3 ($40,000-$74,999): 0.25 APY

Tier 4 ($10,000-$39,999): 0.20 APY

Tier 5 ($100-$9,999): 0.15 APY

Tier 6 ($0-$99): 0.00 APY

ēCO Credit Union is thrilled to maintain our Bauer 5-Star Rating!

The Five-Star rating signifies strength, reliability, and trust. Fewer than 10%

of the Nation’s Financial Institution can claim this distinction.

Thank you for trusting us to meet your financial needs!