Yolo FCU helps members achieve financial success
Yolo Federal Credit Union (FCU) has been offering residents in the county the lowest interest rates on home loans, auto loans and more to accomplish its mission of helping the county achieve financial success.
“Credit unions offer the same service as banks but we operate differently because we are memberowned and run by a volunteer board of directors,” Kelley Jacobsen, director of marketing for Yolo FCU, said. “We are built on the philosophy of people helping people and value people over profits.”
Yolo FCU has been servicing Yolo County since 1954 and exclusively serves the county. However, Jacobsen argues that this does not mean that the services it provides are limited.
The credit union’s Member Service Center serves its members virtually and can assist them online through video conferencing, chat or through the phone.
Jose Alejandro Piceno has been a member for roughly 10 years and said he has enjoyed their services and speed compared to other banks.
“They’re really fast to deal with which helps a lot because people are often in a hurry,” Piceno said in Spanish.
Piceno was with a different bank before switching over to Yolo FCU. He made the switch because the interest rate they were charging on an auto loan was too high.
“I took a loan out with another bank and their interest rate was really high,” he emphasized. “Yolo Credit Union helped me refinance and it helped me a lot since what I was paying before was so high.”
Piceno said he plans on staying with the bank because of this and the lack of problems he’s faced when dealing with them compared to other banks he’s been a member of before.
“We have saved the community over $1 million in loan interest just by refinancing their auto loans and transferring their loan balances to our credit cards,” Jacobsen explained. “Our loan rates are among some of the lowest in Yolo County, which has helped many people save money.”
A blog post reviewing 2020 by Jenne Rawlings, President and CEO of Yolo FCU, details how much work the bank put into ensuring that members were financially taken care of during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We quickly deployed technology to accommodate a more remote workforce, implemented numerous safety measures to limit risks from the virus and worked very hard to ensure that our members experienced no service interruption,” Rawlings emphasized.
The credit union also improved its remote scheduling system to reduce branch traffic and to help adhere to social distancing guidelines.
“During this public health crisis, our commitment to providing the safest environment possible for our members and staff resulted in being the first financial institution to obtain a Green Check certification from Yolo County,” Rawlings highlighted.
Jacobsen added that Yolo FCU has an Achieve Financial Success program, which is a resource that offers various learning modules focused on financial wellness.
“In addition to our low rates and reduced fees, we also provide financial education to help empower our members to make financially sound decisions,” she stated.
The free program is available at YoloFCU.org/ Achieve and is available in English and in Spanish, according to its website.
Jacobsen noted that the credit union also donated $15,000 to a few local small businesses that needed support during the pandemic and another $40,000 to two nonprofits that were severely impacted during the pandemic.
“Our commitment to our members and our community is one reason we have been voted the number one credit union for 21 years in a row,” Jacobsen highlighted. “We have a five-star service program where we encourage our staff to ‘strive for fives’ on their member service surveys by embracing several service promises.”
These promises include taking ownership of member requests and focusing attention to exceed expectations, building genuine relationships with each member and demonstrating integrity in every interaction to uphold member confidence.