Get Money-Smart With Resources to Guide Your Financial Wellness

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Featured Resources:

Banking

Banking guidance for financial wellness.

What Your Credit Score Means

Whether you are applying for a mortgage, car or personal loan, your lender will want to know one number: your three-digit credit score. This number has become perhaps the most…

Balancing a Checking Account

It’s tempting when you pay so many of your bills online to skip on balancing your paper checkbook. After all, balancing the checkbook is no one’s idea of a good…

Understanding Your Credit Report

Your credit reports are important documents. They list your open credit-card accounts, loan balances and financial missteps. Reviewing these reports on a regular basis is a smart financial decision. After…

Use Direct Deposit to Build Savings

Why doesn’t your savings account grow? It could be a simple matter of how you allocate your regular paycheck. What happens every time you receive your paycheck? If your employer…

Why Budgets Fail

You finally committed to making a household budget, listing your monthly expenses and revenue streams. However, at the end of each month you find that you’ve overspent on going to…

Finding the Right Checking Account for You

You have to make a lot of financial decisions in your life. How much money should you deposit in your 401(k) plan every two weeks? Should you apply for a…

Understanding Your Debt Load

Before applying for a mortgage, car or personal loan, you need to know if you earn enough income every month to pay back your new debt. Fortunately, there is an…

    Home Ownership

    Financial tips to help make homebuying easier.

    Home Equity Loans vs Lines of Credit

    You need to borrow money to pay for your children’s college education. Alternatively, maybe you want to pay down your high-interest credit card debt or add a master bedroom addition…

    Cash-Out Refinancing or a Home Equity Loan?

    What’s the top benefit of owning a home? Many would point to the equity you gain as you steadily pay down your mortgage. For instance, if you owe $100,000 on…

    Understanding Home Equity

    One of the great benefits of owning a home is that as you pay off your mortgage loan you build up equity. What exactly is home equity? Simply put, home…

    Using the Equity in Your Home Wisely

    You’ve paid down a significant amount of your mortgage. Since you have, you now have an equally significant amount of home equity. This is good news. Home equity provides you…

    Buying Down an Interest Rate with Points

    As a savvy consumer, you should always be looking for ways to shave some money from your monthly budget. Even small adjustments can add up to significant savings over the…

    Finding the Right Home

    Buying a home is an important decision. In fact, it will probably rank as the biggest purchase you ever make. Because of this, you want to make sure that you…

    How Escrow Accounts Work

    When you purchase a home with the help of a lender, the lender will likely set up an escrow account for you as well. The lender collects the money from…

      Financial Planning

      Plan for your future with these insights.

      Down-Size Your Home, Right-Size Your Life

      You are attached to your home. That is natural: Your children grew up in this home. You spent long hours with your spouse in this home. You’ve celebrated holidays, anniversaries…

      Special Situations to Consider Before Starting Social Security

      It makes financial sense to wait to collect your Social Security benefits until you hit full retirement age: 66 if you were born between 1943 and 1954 and as old…

      Student Loan Repayment Options

      You’ve graduated from college with a new degree and lots — a whole lot — of student-loan debt. The good news is that depending on the type of loans you…

      Now That You’ve Graduated: Repaying Your Student Loans

      You’ve graduated from college. For many graduates, now becomes the time you’ll have to pay for that high-level education. All those student loans you took out while studying economics, philosophy,…

      Understanding Student Loans

      Your son has picked his college. Your daughter has chosen her major. Your children have even picked out their mini-fridges and microwave ovens for their dorm rooms. However, what about…

      Stretch Your Retirement Budget

      You’ve worked hard all your life. You do not want to enter retirement worrying about how you are going to pay for medical costs, insurance, groceries and your other bills.…

      Managing Your Retirement Funds

      The secret to a happy retirement? There are probably many. However, not having to worry if you’ll run out of money is certainly near the top of the list. The…

        Security

        Best practices to protect your identity and finances.

        Common Phone Scams

        The person on the other end of the phone has exciting news: You’ve won first place in the sweepstakes. A new car will soon be yours. The catch? To claim…

        Make Sure Your Home Network is Secure

        Most people these days set up a wireless home network so that all of their devices can connect simultaneously. It is not unusual to have a desktop computer, a home…

        Consumer Privacy

        You might not realize just how much personal information you give out every day. Did you use your debit card to buy groceries this morning? Maybe you charged your lunch…

        Protecting Your Identity While Travelling

        You’ve packed your bags, reserved your hotel and secured tickets to the big festival. You’ve printed out your boarding pass. You’re ready for your big trip, right? Not quite. Traveling…

        Credit, Debit and Fraud Prevention

        In the world today, consumers rely heavily on their credit and debit cards to make purchases both large and small. How many of us, after all, pay cash when fueling…

        Shopping Safely Online

        Online shopping has become increasingly common in recent years as a convenient alternative to going out to stores. However, the time and energy you save by shopping online could be…

        8 Tips to Protect Your Identity

        Identity theft continues to be one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States. In 2017, there were 16.7 million victims of identity fraud in the U.S., according to…

          Interested in Business Banking Resources?

          Navigating the world of business is easier when you have resources and tools at the ready.