✨March Newsletter

Great Erie eNews

MARCH 2023

Welcome to Great Erie eNews, the monthly e-Newsletter from

Great Erie Federal Credit Union.

From your finances and family to lifestyle and useful tips, your financial co-op is here for you.

March News

Have you heard of OPFAE?

Credit unions have a rich history of giving back to their members and supporting the communities in which their members live and work. Great Erie is proud of our community involvement; there is always the opportunity to contribute to the greater good.

Great Erie proudly supports the Orchard Park Foundation for Academic Excellence. The Foundation's mission is to enhance students' educational experience in the Orchard Park School District by supporting extraordinary educational experiences and opportunities in the arts, sciences, math, technology, applied career skills, athletics and culture. The objective of the Foundation is to raise and invest funds that will supplement traditional state and local funding for public education in Orchard Park. The dedicated Board of Directors works with leaders of the educational community to ensure that Foundation resources will be used to better the community as a whole. These are some of the finest and most hard-working individuals I've ever worked alongside. I am personally inspired by the volunteers who make up this Board. Their dedication to enhancing education is as profound as the credit union philosophy of people helping people.

Grants from the Foundation have been awarded throughout the school district for various education programs and equipment. In addition, the Foundation has collaborated with others on some of these grants. For example, it has recently awarded the PTO's author visit grants, assisting families during COVID-19 and many other projects and programs.

Great Erie Federal Credit Union remains committed to growing throughout our community. We will always remember where we came from, where our great credit union began, at home in Orchard Park.

You can learn more about donating or getting involved by visiting www.opfae.org.

Robyn

Robyn Young/CEO

Great Erie FCU

COMING SOON THIS SPRING! Hop on over and SAVE!

Youth Savings & Education

Learn, Save and Grow with the Great Erie Super Saver Club.

Teaching your child about money while young is a great way to help them mature and become financially responsible adults. Great Erie is committed to assisting young people in learning good money habits.

Explore Ways to Ditch Your Credit Card Debt

Consider debt consolidation through a balance transfer credit card option. This option can make your debt easier to manage and could reduce the overall interest rate you're paying on it. Great Erie has two great VISA card options to choose from that best suit your needs. Check out our Great Rate and Great Rewards credit card balance transfer options!

Learn More

Get on Track. Stay on Track.

Get a sharper view of your financial picture. Great Erie's Great Track is free online software that provides all the tools you need. Getting organized has never been easier. All of your accounts - even those at other financial institutions - are in one, easy-to-find place. Create budgets, track and categorize your spending habits and see how much money you have to pay bills and other expenses day by day. When it comes to saving and spending, Great Track helps you make better choices.

Learn More

ONLINE SAFETY

If something seems more exciting, pleasing or ideal than seems reasonable, then it likely isn't genuine, legitimate or true.

The FTC's latest report highlights that nearly 70,000 people reported being victims of a romance scam last year. In addition, the Consumer Protection Division of the FTC also noted that the median loss in a romance scam last year was $4,400. Unfortunately, our members are no exception to these statistics.

BANZAI CORNER - Great Erie's Online Financial Literacy Program

Federal Income Taxes

Federal Income Taxes are a percentage of an individual's or business's income paid to the government and used to fund public goods and services.

If you understand how these taxes work and their purpose, you can better appreciate the benefits and better account for the loss.

BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

Meet Carrie Boye Roof! A GEFCU member and owner of Boye Creative Group, LLC

a Graphic Design, Printing and Advertising Services company located in Amherst, NY.

Carrie is a talented graphic designer and illustrator with expertise in a variety of media.

She oversees all aspects of artistic development and production within the group. At Boye Creative Group, they design and create marketing materials for businesses along with handling all of the printing (and they have great pricing too). They design websites, produce web and tv videos/commercials, write and produce custom jingles and create radio commercials. Boye Creative Group also handles all of the media buys with the tv and radio stations. “We love what we do and our creative team is a lot of fun to work with.”-Carrie

For more information and perhaps some creative marketing ideas, give Carrie a call!

Boye Creative Group, LLC

45 Newgate Road

Amherst, New York 14226

716.573.1685

Carrie@boyecreativegroup.com

BoyeCreativeGroup.com

Get noticed with a Member/Business Spotlight - Submit your Business! Celebrating an anniversary or milestone? This is a wonderful opportunity to announce it to our Great Erie membership. It's free!

Please email: aball@greateriefcu.com or call 662.1311 x110 for more details.

Offered by GEFCU to promote growth and reward our members for expanding our membership. Help your credit union, get rewarded! Share the benefits of being a member/owner of Great Erie with your friends and family! Earn $20 every time you refer a friend to Great Erie. The more you refer, the more you earn!

Learn More

GREAT ERIE GIVES

February 2023 Giving

Hospice Foundation

Our February Community Wishes/Dress Down Day Donation went to

The Hospice Foundation of WNY Inc.

Our mission is to provide care, support, advocacy and education to people in Erie County impacted by serious illness and loss.

Here for you with support, advocacy and education.

Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo (HPCB) cares for individuals suffering from serious illness, as well as their families and caregivers. We provide an integrative, holistic (physical, emotional, social and spiritual) approach to care that focuses on the whole person, rather than on individual symptoms. Our knowledgeable and compassionate team helps individuals make choices about their care, educate professionals and communities about care offerings addressing quality of life and supports those who are grieving.

At Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo, we're here to support and guide you through any serious or life-limiting illness. We understand your desire to access the right care at the right time.

Learn more at https://www.hospicebuffalo.com

Credit Sense

Keep score of your finances.

How financially responsible are you? That's what a credit score attempts to measure. With Great Erie's free Credit Sense service, you can easily access your full credit report, gain insight into what factors are affecting your rating, access credit monitoring and money-saving opportunities and get solid ideas on how to raise your all-important score - all at no cost.

Free Credit Score & Report

Safe Keeping

Financial Health

By staying in touch with your score, report and monitoring updates you put yourself in the best position to truly discover financial freedom.

Learn More

Card Sense App

Keep tabs on your Great Erie debit and credit cards with real-time alerts from our Card Sense App.

Personalize your card security with transaction controls such as device location, merchandise category, transaction types and spending limits. The Card Sense App is a free app available for download to your mobile phone. Turn your cards on or off, create transaction controls and alerts for any card issued by

Great Erie FCU.

Card Sense is our member's best tool for preventing fraud and tracking card use in real-time.

Learn More

GREAT ERIE BLOG

Improving Your Relationship With Money

Managing your emotions with money can lead to better financial decisions and financial health.

The past few years have been pretty rough on many Americans. The Covid pandemic stretched longer than anyone expected. Jobs were lost. Schools and daycares closed for months and parents are still feeling the impact of some 58,000 fewer childcare workers.