The Democratic Economy Network will be showing The Mondragon Experiment on February 9th at 6:30pm in the Assisi Center (The Northside Branch Lobby). The film is a 50 minute BBC documentary about Mondragón, in the Basque region of Spain, which is a flourishing industrial town with over 80 factories which are the most efficient in the country- and all are co-operatively owned. Come check it out!

Filing your taxes can be a very confusing process. The IRS doesn’t make it very easy! That means that many of us end up looking for help. However, not everyone knows that the help offered by some private companies isn’t as nice as it seems.

You can get your taxes prepared for you for FREE at many VITA sites around Syracuse.
There is a site right outside our office at 800 North Salina Street that will be offereing this free service on the following Saturdays: February 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th; March 6th, 20th, 27th, and April 10th. These Saturday sessions go from 9am-1pm. No appointment is required.
There are also free tax prep sites at many libraries and PEACE, Inc. Family Resource Centers. You can contact PEACE Inc. at 634-3756 to set up an appointment at a PEACE center near you.

The Credit Union Board of Directors election is on Sunday, March 14, at the 2010 Annual Meeting.
Please nominate a fellow credit union member to the Board by sending an email to info@coopfed.org.

Any Cooperative Federal credit union member is eligible to be on the Board of Directors. Love the credit union? Have suggestions to make us stronger? Please consider joining the Board!

Send nominations and inquiries to info@coopfed.org.

On January 31, the annual fee for checking accounts will be deducted. Please plan for the fee, and don’t forget to include it when balancing your checkbook! Our fee for personal checking accounts is now $25.00. Business checking accounts are now $30.00.
Nonmember checking accounts are $35.00.

Why is there a fee?

Charging a reasonable fee for the checking account helps to cover the cost of the service, and allows us to keep all of our fees in line with our costs – instead of hitting members with high or inflated fees for other services.

The 2010 Common Cents nominations period has begun!

Nomination forms are available at any office, or, you can email your nomination to info@coopfed.org. Please include the organization name, a brief description of their activities, and a contact name in your email.

Nominated organizations are placed on a ballot for voting by all the membership. Voting begins at our annual meeting and runs through May.

About Common Cents

That’s right. Cooperative Federal has joined the social networking community with a Facebook Page, and we want you to become a fan. You can use the page to stay updated on Credit Union and community happenings, find out about workshops and RSVP to them, leave comments and suggestions and connect with other Credit Union members. We can’t wait to see you there.

Credit Union members should be advised that a fraudulent text message, supposedly from a credit union, is circulating. The goal of the fraudsters behind this is to collect personal and sensitive information. If you receive a questionable text message, do not reply or call back with any personal data. Neither your credit union, nor any other business, will ever request personal information from the public via text message, such as PIN codes, passwords, Social Security numbers, credit-card numbers or other financial account information.

Always make sure to follow best security practices and always consider why a person or business needs personal information about you before you provide it. This is a Scam. It is NOT coming from the Credit Union.

If you receive this message, you should delete it. Do not reply or call the phone number provided, or provide any information.

Never respond to an unsolicited email, phone call, or text message that asks for personal information. Cooperative Federal will never contact you by email to ask for your account number, social security number, or PIN.

The Westcott Neighborhood Bulb Project's annual bulb give-away and event was Saturday, October 3 at the Westcott Community Center.

photo courtesy of Mark Rupert

Last year, the Bulb Project provided over 800 bulbs and SUNY-ESF's LANDscape club did the work of planting hundreds of flowers along the hillside next to Cooperative Federal’s credit union office on Westcott Street.

The first pieces of the Credit CARD Act of 2009 went into effect at the end of August.

The Credit CARD Act is meant to protect people from some of the unfriendly practices of credit card companies. The Act applies to any kind of open-end credit - so that includes our Lines of Credit.

What this Means for You:

Line of Credit payments are now due on the 25th of the month.
Payment used to be due on the 15th. This gives you more time between when the statement is mailed and when you have to send in your payment.

One of our main phone lines, 471-1116, was not working properly, starting on Sept 4. We fixed this issue on September 8th and this line is working correctly now.

We understand how important it is for you to have access to your account, and how upsetting it is when you cannot reach us.

We never plan or expect to have any of our numbers not work, but in the unexpected event that one does, there are additional ways to get in touch with us.

(315) 473-0220 – This is our main member service number. This is the best way to reach an available member service representative when we are open. You can also leave a message when we're closed. Each office also has a direct member service number - 473-0260 for Southwest, 473-0270 for Westcott, and 473-0280 for North Salina. If no one at that office can answer at that time, your call will then go to all offices so you can speak with someone.

(315) 473-0242 – This is our general lending department number. If you have questions about your loans, or general credit questions, give this number a call.

(315) 476-1451 – This is our financial classes & counseling number.

And, finally, (315) 671-CASH or 671-2274 is our automatic “phone teller” that you can use to hear your balances, history, and to make transfers or payments by phone,24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Direct lines for all staff members are also all posted on the website.