Financially Vulnerable (Score 0-39)

At GCEFCU we desire to see our members achieve their financial goals and overall financial wellness. Your financial wellness score can be broken down into multiple parts. Here are some tips for addressing each area of your financial wellness to work towards increasing your overall financial health.

Spend Score: To increase your spending score you will need to focus on spending less than your income as well as paying bills on time.

Tips for increasing your spend score include:

  • Analyzing your current spending habits by reviewing the Financial Wellness widget within online banking
  • Budgeting for your expenses – If you are unsure where to start you can start by reading our Money Talks article for setting up a budget
  • Setting up direct deposit so you can easily access your funds and analyze where you spend them
  • Utilize our free BillPay service to set up reoccurring expenses for automatic payments

Save Score: To increase your saving score you will need to have sufficient liquid savings and long-term savings.

Tips for increasing your save score include:

  • Setting up a Dollar Up Savings account to help save with a virtual change jar
  • Creating set-aside savings for annual or other reoccurring expenses that you can expect (Ex. Vehicle registration, Flood insurance premiums, Christmas spending, back-to-school expenses, etc.)
  • Setting up an IRA account to assist with saving for retirement

Borrow Score: To increase your borrow score you will need to have manageable debt and have a prime credit score.

Tips for increasing your borrow score include:

  • Paying attention to rates and terms when you finance a loan – the longer the term the higher your interest may be
  • Keeping credit card balances below 20-30% of your available limit
  • Making on time payments to avoid late fees and possible impacts to your credit score
  • Reviewing the SavvyMoney Credit Score widget within online banking to get an overview of your credit and suggestions for improvement
  • Reviewing your credit report on an annual basis. For tips on how to read your credit report click here.

Have further questions?

If you have specific questions, please click here, to email our Certified Credit Union Financial Counselor group and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

This feature leverages the Financial Health Network FinHealth Score® Toolkit.