Coastal Credit Union + Their Financial Well-being Journey

Financial well-being is not A thing credit unions do, but THE thing credit unions do. The Foundation is on a mission to catalyze credit unions into putting financial well-being at the heart of their strategy by providing ideas from organizations who are putting in the work to make that happen. Here are their stories.

Credit Union: Coastal Credit Union in North Carolina.

What was the financial well-being problem?

Their members and community face an overwhelming challenge to save money for emergencies as well as have too much bad debt. Various economic conditions and historical expectations are a couple of many factors that lead to these challenging conditions. Coastal credit union is working on these areas because their members and community are demanding it.

They know that 52% of their employees and members are financially unhealthy and believe it is their responsibility to help them.

What did they do about it?

They first created a pilot group of members to take the Financial Health Survey. They matched the results to a trained group of specialists that could provide the appropriate counsel and solutions. They have now expanded this process to our employees and had 70% of their employees take the survey.

What was the result?

They had an immediate increase in savings based on those who took the survey and attended one session with a trained advisor. Other results will be known at a later time when they can measure again. They did see an increase in credit score, an increase in products with Coastal and an increase in savings with the original pilot. They have also started a small dollar loan product due to the findings.