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What will 2020 bring to you?

By SECU
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are enjoying a renewed sense of purpose as 2020 gets underway. I always feel a great surge of energy and optimism at this time of year, and believe it is an ideal time to prioritize personal financial goals. This exercise need not be overwhelming; but think about your top one or two money aspirations that you will focus on this year, rather than a long list. Perhaps you want to pay off a high-interest credit card or save for a vacation or home improvement project? Whatever you decide, be sure to write your goals down because affirmation makes it real. (And if you are receiving a tax refund this year, be sure to allocate its financial purpose in advance—it might be a perfect way to boost your emergency fund.)
I also want to take a moment to thank all of you who responded to our member survey last year—your feedback is important and vital to our mission. As a result of our review of this valuable information, State ECU’s top priorities for 2020 are to enhance our excellent customer service and ensure that our employees are knowledgeable about our financial products and services. To this end, we pledge to boost our training programs for employees and work hard to make our member services even stronger this year.
Looking back on 2019, we saw more than $38 million in loan growth—reflecting a healthy loan business that was in part driven by our mortgage program. I believe our solid loan growth was due to the fact that people continue to feel confident in the economy. A healthy loan program means many of our members see State ECU as their preferred financial partner—and also puts the credit union on a positive fiscal path for a continual flow of earnings.
Our deposit growth has been exceptional over the past year with more than $72 million added to depositors’ accounts; more than double our deposit growth in 2018. More than half these new accounts were Kasasa checking accounts—the #1 checking account in the state of New Mexico. These terrific accounts offer perks such as 2.05% APY* on balances up to $50,000 or 3.00% cash back on debit card purchases**. Thank you for helping let people know that we have expanded our field of membership beyond “state employees” to allow many more New Mexicans the opportunity to experience our friendly, personalized financial services.
Our online and mobile services have seen a big upswing this year; members appreciate the availability of account access 24/7 and the convenience of banking when and where you need to. Our research tells us that our members on average use their mobile devices and computers to access their financial information 35 times per month. For example, remote deposit capture, where you can use your phone to take an image and deposit a check, is up 2.5 times over last year. And mobile pay, where you can use your phone to quickly and safely pay for purchases, is seeing an average of 40,000 monthly transactions by State ECU members, compared to 15,000 monthly transactions as an average one year ago.
Be sure to download our free State ECU app (iOS or Android) in order to utilize remote deposit capture as well as quickly take care of other banking activities such as checking balances, paying bills, and transferring money. Of course, you also can engage with us at the branches or via phone or TARA telephone banking, but isn’t it great to have control of your money on your own schedule?
Is 2020 the year you search for a new home? Rates are still at near historic lows so come speak with us about getting pre-approved to know how much home you can shop for. In addition, maybe you are ready to tackle that remodel project or want to make major improvements before putting your home on the market this spring—again, come speak with us to learn more about our great rates on home equity loans.
We are delighted to find out State ECU has been nominated again this year for Best Credit Union and Best Auto Lender by the Albuquerque Journal Readers’ Choice Awards.  This lets us know that we are responding to the needs of our members with competitive financial products and solutions. Also, nominations for The Reporter’s 2020 Best of Santa Fe readers’ poll open February 1, 2020. Please take a moment to visit The Reporter’s website and nominate State ECU for Best Financial Institution and Best Lender.
My personal New Year’s resolution is to practice mindfulness this year—to pay attention and be fully present in my everyday life and be thankful for my family, friends, and all the wonderful and blessed components of my life. Enjoy the rest of the winter season—try to make good on your New Year’s resolutions and perhaps take a moment to create your shortlist of 2020 financial goals.

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