The 2012 edition of the Police Credit Union Newsletter is jam packed!
Look inside to find out how you can win an iPad 2, save $1,000's on your home loan, achieve your savings goals, get debt under control, how we're keeping your money safe with our Guardian Fraud Protection Service, and much more!
With Summer just around the corner, home owners need to act now and prepare for bushfires as meteorologists predict a dangerous season ahead.
Police Credit Union Executive Manager Member Value and Distribution – Paul Modra says, "With the bushfire
season looming, now is the perfect time to ensure that your home contents, building, and car insurance is all
up to date, and commence preparing your bushfire action plans."
"Bushfires can be deadly, and those impacted will no doubt experience devastating emotional loss. This can
unfortunately be compounded with significant financial loss if your insurance policies aren't current," says
Paul.
On Sunday September 11, 2011, the Treasurer announced long awaited changes to the Financial Claims Scheme (FCS).
The key change is that the guarantee will apply to a maximum deposit of $250,000 compared to the current $1,000,000 and is applicable for all Financial Instituions including banks and credit unions.
It's no secret that the staff at our Casuarina branch have a big heart.
For their latest community support appeal, they've decided to help the RSPCA by creating awareness and establishing a food drive collecting tins of pet food.
Police Credit Union Casuarina Branch Manager, Karen Vegera said that her staff at Casuarina love animals and thought it was a worthy cause and one that's completely different to other charities they've supported in the past.
So we'd love you to help them out!
Casuarina’s RSPCA food drive will continue until 31 August 2011
King Nathan personally delivers Christmas spirit to special needs kids
On Thursday 18th August, 2011, the newly-crowned 2011 Credit Union Christmas Pageant King and Marion branch's Loan Officer Nathan Fisher, brought some early Christmas cheer to a group of Christies Beach kids with special needs.
He presented a large novelty cheque for $300 on behalf of the Marion branch to fund a school excursion to the upcoming Royal Adelaide Show for students with special needs at Christies Beach School.
King Nathan is excited to be giving these kids an opportunity that so many SA kids take for granted.
“I remember going to the Royal Adelaide Show every year as a kid, but quite often it’s too difficult for special needs kids to have these same childhood experiences – it’s a nice feeling to be able to help out.”
Police Credit Union staff are proud to give up work to offer a helping hand
A new staff
volunteer program has been launched that provides each employee with the opportunity to partake in one paid day of volunteer
work each year.
Police Credit Union staff member Bridie Hutton said the Corporate Social Responsibility Leave program has been welcomed by staff as it's beneficial for all involved, and continues to foster goodwill for the community and provide a positive working environment.
"I'm proud to work for an organisation that cares about the community, and provides us opportunities to lend a
helping hand in the community – getting paid to do so is a bonus."
Police Credit Union has just launched a new campaign to conditionally approve car loans within 24 business hours, responding to Generation Y's need for everything now.
It coincides with the increasing demand for borrowers
who are time poor and want more immediacy when seeking approval for a car loan.
We've taken our quest to be Pageant Queen and King one step further...
In order to prepare our staff for the serious rigours and responsibilities of being Pageant royalty, we put our staff through their paces at ‘Pageant Boot Camp’.
The Casuarina Branch will later this month be baking cakes and brewing tea for Australia's Biggest Morning Tea and raising money for cancer in the process, a cause dear to their heart with nearly the entire team sharing a personal connection to cancer.
Police Credit Union Casuarina Branch Manager, Karen Vegera, said that it was a no-brainer for the branch to participate in the event for the third year in a row, with several staff having lost close family members to cancer or helped a family member battle with cancer.
All locals are invited to visit the Casuarina branch of between 9.30-11am on Tuesday 24 May and help raise funds for the Cancer Council.
They also currently holding a raffle to raise extra funds for the cause
Prizes include basket of goods, including a tent, camping chairs, fishing rods, a pearl pendant and earrings, watches, toys, a skateboard and more.
You can purchase a raffle ticket from Police Credit Union, Shop 3-4 Casuarina Square, Casuarina.
The raffle will be drawn at 10am, during the morning tea.
There is a current scam doing the rounds where the caller advises you that Police Credit Union owes you a refund of fees.
The caller then asks for further personal details such as date of birth, credit / debit card number or even a tele-service code (although they don't use that actual term). They are looking for enough information to commit fraud in your name.
Don't fall for it!
Click here to read the Fraud Watch article and find out how you can stay alert to this scam.
Love my Valentine, love my Home Loan?
With love in the air this Valentine’s Day, Police Credit Union are asking homeowners to question whether they’re still in love with their home loan and financial institution.
Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate that special person who is always there for you through thick and thin, who supports you, who allows you to grow and change, and who helps you fulfil your dreams, which is quite like a home loan, or at least it should be.
Following the devastation and heartache left in the wake of the Queensland floods, Police Credit Union’s Casuarina branch didn’t think twice about doing something to help, with staff donating to the relief effort by developing personal care packs.
Police Credit Union Casuarina Branch Manager, Karen Vegera, said that Federal Member for Solomon Natasha Griggs’ call for personal care products to be sent to Queensland flood victims inspired the local Police Credit Union team to do just that.
“Our hearts go out to those who’ve had their lives displaced by the Queensland floods and we wanted to lend support to victims, in any way we can,” Ms Vegera said.
Police Credit Union has gone crazy for cycling, again throwing its support behind the Ride Like Crazy charity cycling event, now in its third year, raising valuable funds for cancer research, prevention and treatment.
Police Credit Union Chief Executive Officer Costa Anastasiou said that Police Credit Union was proud to again support the Ride Like Crazy event and its efforts to raise funds for the Flinders Medical Centre Foundation and the Neurosurgical Research Foundation, by being a Gold Sponsor.
“A team of eight Police Credit Union staff will be participating in the event but we’re also encouraging our members to get involved and take part in the day, as the more riders the more money raised,” Mr Anastasiou said.
Click here to visit the official Ride Like Crazy website.
Students signing loud and clear
Staff and members were treated to a special performance on Thursday 9 December, 2010 when Windsor Gardens Vocational College Centre for the Hearing Impaired
showed that actions speak louder than words.
Their choir performed at the Police Credit Union Adelaide
Branch – only difference being that they were signing the lyrics, not singing.
Police Credit Union welcomes Federal Government support for credit unions and building societies
Costa Anastasiou from Police Credit Union has welcomed reports today that FederalTreasurer Wayne Swan will offer credit unions and building societies more assistance to allow them to grow and compete fairly with the big four banks.
“We welcome the Federal Government’s support. Any initiatives that help credit unions and building societies to compete on a level-playing field will help to keep the big banks honest and give customers a real choice,” Mr Anastasiou said.
“Major bank customers can vote with their feet and move their banking to a credit union or building society. If people want to know more, we encourage them to go to comesbacktoyou.com.au to find out the credit union or building society for them.” Mr Anastasiou said.
Live on 5AA: Segment 3 - Safe online and retail shopping
9 out of 10 people now go online to transact with their money - either via internet banking or purchasing goods.
So does this make you susceptible to credit card fraud?
And in the lead up before Christmas how can we shop online safely?
As someone who has never bought anything online, Dan quizzes Paul about the safety of buying online - what to look for on the webpages themself and the safety of popular sites such as ebay.
Paul and Dan also go on to discuss general credit card safety in Australia and overseas.
This third instalment in the series is another must-listen to segment, full of great tips and information.
It's a great time to get into the market in Adelaide.
If you're a first home buyer or are just looking for some great tips on home loans, listen in to this radio segment as it's jam packed with information!
Paul and Dan discuss the benefits buying versus renting - pointing out that for $350-400 a week, you could be paying off your mortgage rather than someone else's!
Dan asks the question - what should first home buyers look for?
In answer to this, Paul talks about the issues surrounding affordability including creating a budget, getting together your own deposit, the first home owner's grant and how you may be able to use a Family Pledge whereby you parents can assist you with the deposit.
Also covered is what's behind the Reserve Bank decisions, paying above your base payments to save time and interest, mortgage offset accounts and more!
Don't forget to tune in to 5AA next Saturday afternoon to hear more great tips on all things money and finance.
Spring's a popular time of year to start thinking about buying or building a new home, or investing in another property.
In this first radio info segment, Paul Modra, our Executive Manager of Product & Marketing speaks to Ashley on 5AA about the many different aspects of mortgages.
This includes fixed vs variable rates and how credit union's can provide the same options as banks, exposing the popular myth.
Paul also answers questions about the Adelaide housing market, and talks about the options and benefits available with fixed, variable and split loans.
This is going to be a regular segment in the afternoon timeslot on Saturday with Dan on 5AA, and will include topics such as insurance, finance scams, travel and more.
PCU throws its support behind NT’s neglected children
Following a recent damning government inquiry into the Northern Territory’s child protection system, Police Credit Union’s Casuarina branch decided to do something to help.
They decided to organise a raffle, with proceeds going towards the cost of 100 Emergency Care Bags for NT Family and Children Services.
As our Casuarina Branch Manager, Karen puts it:
"Giving back to the community is important and 'abused and disadvantage children deserve the same life essentials as others."
For home owners unimpressed with their bank’s excessive interest rate hikes, high fees and poor customer
service it has never been easier to ‘dump’ them – with just one phone call to Police Credit Union.
Police Credit Union has taken on the role of middleman for customers looking to break up with their
mortgage provider, making refinancing neither difficult nor time consuming.
Police Credit Union Chief Executive Officer Costa Anastasiou said that they’ve recently seen a spike in home
owners looking to switch to the credit union that offers superior service, fairer fees, longer opening hours
and highly competitive rates.
Police Credit Union announces another strong result in its 40th year
Police Credit Union has solidified itself as a top 100 SA‐based business having announced another strong result for the 2009‐10 financial period.
It recorded a group profit after tax of $3.46 million, together with an impressive member satisfaction rating of 90.4 per cent (well above the bank’s average of 75.7 per cent) – pleasing results for the company’s 40th year in business.
Starting 1 February, 2010, as a PCU Members you can now access your Internet Banking from the palm of your hand.
Click here to find out more about this exciting new initiative.
Click here to view older Media Releases and articles.
Terms, conditions, fees, charges and lending criteria apply. Full details available on application. AFSL/ACL 238991. Any advice herein does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Please consider your circumstances to decide if the product is right for you.
