This is more of a steppingstone story. A 19-year-old member opened a checking account with us in June 2025, shortly after graduating high school. During senior year at Collins Career Center, he had started a paid internship that turned into full-time employment, giving him a strong start so early in life.
Not long after opening his account, he came in wanting to learn how to build credit. He had no credit history or score yet, which is common at his age, but he was motivated. We worked together to open a credit card with a $500 limit, and he paid the balance off every month without fail.
Recently, he returned to talk about next steps. After receiving advice from his grandfather, he decided to place some of his savings into a six-month CD to earn more interest. From there, he asked about applying for a personal loan to purchase new furniture. He was excited to show me pictures of what he had picked out, and we were able to open a signature loan at a lower rate than store financing. We also set the loan up with automatic payments from his checking account, saving him additional interest.
He was greatly appreciative of everything we’d done for him. Personally, it was nice to see a young person that was focused on their future and building a good life for himself.
