There are still a few days left to submit your child’s entry to the VCNB Fall Coloring Contest. Just print this coloring sheet or pick up a copy from your local branch. Then turn in their finished entry to your local VCNB office. Be sure to have your child write their name and phone number on the back so we know how to contact them if they win! A prize will be awarded at each VCNB Office. Hurry though! Contest entries are due by September 30, 2014.
Fall is almost here, bringing with it cooler temperatures, brilliant fall leaves and an open invitation to go outside and enjoy Mother Nature. Fall also provides ample opportunity to have fun with your significant other or entire family without breaking the bank.
Central and Southern Ohio are fortunate to have miles of walking and hiking trails in state and metro parks for people of all skill levels to enjoy. This is a free activity that’s good for your health and a great opportunity to enjoy the foliage and fresh air.
If you have little ones, a trip to the park is always a great way to pass a Saturday afternoon. Pack a picnic and turn the kids loose on the playground equipment. While you’re outside, if it’s a windy day, remember that kites aren’t just for spring. Fall winds provide a perfect opportunity to fly a kite. An inexpensive department store kite and an open area on a windy day can provide entertainment for kids of all ages.
If indoor activities are more your speed, think about creative ways to enjoy being inside. One great way to do that with kids is to camp inside. Whether you have a real tent or just blankets to drape over chairs, the kids will love their new tent or fort or whatever you choose to call it. Make it really special by baking cookies, playing games or watching a movie the entire family will enjoy.
Another fun way to enjoy fall indoors is to make a pot of chili and invite friends over to watch the big game. Set up a chili bar with fun toppings and ask your guests to bring a dessert to share.
Fall is great time to get out and play or to cozy up indoors without spending a lot of cash. Leave a comment and tell us your favorite fall activity!
As more and more customers are getting excited about banking on the go, we are getting a lot of questions about signing up for our Mobile Banking.
Our Mobile Banking App allows you to enjoy secure access to your bank accounts anytime and anywhere. That means you can pay bills, transfer funds and check balances from your mobile device quickly and easily. All you need to get started is a phone with text messaging or internet capabilities and online banking.
Here are the steps to getting started!
60 Second App Sign Up
Easy Browser Banking or Text Messaging Sign Up
Look for a text message to confirm enrollment with a web site address. Save it to your favorites for browser banking.
Sounds easy, right? That’s because it is easy. If you want to learn more about Mobile Money click here to watch a video.
Standard messaging and data rates may apply when downloading or using Mobile Money.
Our last two Shred Days of the year will be held this month! This free service is meant to help our customers safely dispose of important documents that shouldn’t fall into the wrong hands. We hold Shred Days in different locations each year.
Because identity thieves often zero in on the things people throw away, tossing the wrong item in the trash can jeopardize a person’s identity and their future. One way to safeguard your privacy is to shred paper and plastic documents with information you don’t want someone else to access. That is why we offer Shred Days!
Documents you definitely want to shred include anything with a signature, account number, social security number, legal information or medical information. Examples might include:
Credit card offers
Tax information
Old photo Ids
ATM and credit card receipts
Statements and bills for credit cards, utilities and medical treatments.
Bank statements and cancelled checks.
Check stubs Investment statements
Other important personal documents
Upcoming Shred Days will be held:
Sept. 20 Bremen Banking Center in Bremen 10 a.m. to noon
Sept. 27 First Capital Enterprises (505 E. 7th St., Chillicothe) 10 a.m. to noon.
We will gladly take up to five boxes per customer at each event. The box limit exists to prevent long lines and to ensure that we do not exceed truck limitations. We look forward to seeing you at Shred Days this month!
We recently had a customer tell us that he wouldn’t use Online Bill Pay because he doesn’t want to lose control of his bills. That started us thinking about Bill Pay and the misconceptions circulating about this service. Test your Bill Pay knowledge with this short quiz:
When scheduling an Online Bill Pay payment, payments can be scheduled for:
a.) Just one time.
b.) To be recurring for as long as I like.
c.) Both A and B.
The answer is C! You can schedule a single payment or a year’s worth of payments! Whether you want to schedule a payment every month or whether you want to put these things on auto pilot, Bill Pay can accommodate your needs.
One of your payees isn’t on the VCNB list of payees. What do you do?
a.) Call the bank and complain.
b.) Just write a check like you normally would.
c.) Spend a few seconds entering that payee’s information into your Online Bill Pay Account.
The answer is C! Entering your payee’s information into your Online Bill Pay Account takes just a few minutes and it is saved forever. You only go to the dentist twice a year? That’s ok! Her information will be saved and waiting for you when that next cleaning comes around!
The cost for Online Bill Pay is:
a.) There is no charge if you use it!
b.) Very unreasonable.
c.) Three dollars a month
d.) Both A and C
The answer is D! If you are registered for Bill Pay, this service is free as long as you make at least one payment during the calendar month. If you do not meet this minimum requirement you will be charged a three dollar fee. That’s just one bill paid per month to keep the service free!
Once your bill is paid, records of the bill are:
a.) Accessible online for up to seven years.
b.) Gone with the wind.
c.) Are kept for just a few weeks.
The answer is A! You can search your complete bill pay history for up to seven years! You may search by company, date or status. If you aren’t certain whether you paid your electric bill, the answer is a click away.
Online Bill Pay can be used to pay:
a.) Established businesses
b.) People
c.) Both
The answer is C! Use Online Bill Pay to pay all your regular bills like credit card, utilities and car loan. The Popmoney ® personal payment service feature allows you to pay friends and family using just their mobile phone number or email address. (An additional .50 per transaction fee will be charged for Popmoney.)
Want to learn more about Online Bill Pay at VCNB? Click this link to watch a tutorial. Then log in to your online banking to get started!
Do you have a household budget? If you’re like most Americans, chances are you don’t. A Gallup poll last year revealed that just one in three Americans prepare a household budget.
However, a budget plan is one of the most important things you can give yourself. It helps you to know where your money is going, helps with savings or other financial goals and it simply keeps you on track so that you don’t spend money you don’t have.
Unfortunately, people who do have budgets often don’t stick to the plan but instead simply have a wish list of how they want their finances to work while they continue spending unrealistically.
So how do you create a realistic budget that you can live with?
The first step is to track your spending. You already know how much you spend on utilities, mortgage and insurance but what about smaller expenses? For a month write down every penny you spend. Five dollars for lunch and thirty for gas add up pretty quick so it is necessary to be realistic about all of your daily expenses. At the end of the month, add up how much you spent.
Now sit down and make a list of all your expenses. It can be a handwritten list or some kind of worksheet on the computer.
Simply fill in the amounts and add up your month’s expenses. Are they more or less than your income? If they are less than your income that’s great! That means you have extra money to save, to dedicate toward debt payoff or to spend.
If your expenses are greater than your income, it is time to look at cutting expenses. Think about extras that you don’t really need like premium cable or a land line that no one in the house uses. Also look at major expenses like car insurance. Can you get a cheaper rate? How much money are you spending in restaurants or on recreational shopping? Are you wasting a lot of food at home? Maybe you are overbuying for your family?
Here are a few other things to keep in mind.
One of the most powerful ways to free up money in your budget is to pay off debt. Credit card bills, student loans and other types of debt may seem impossible to move past but making debt pay off a priority in your budget will help you stay on track and see how it is possible to dig yourself out of debt.
Give yourself a little wiggle room in your monthly budget. For those categories that fluctuate, like your water or electric bills, build a little extra into each month so you are not caught off guard. Also try to anticipate irregular expenses. You know your child’s school takes portraits every November so budget for that expense in November. Instead of trying to pay for all Christmas expenses at one time, tuck away a little into savings each month. A VCNB Christmas Club is a great way to do that!
And of course, build a safety net by saving something every month. Most experts recommend saving at least ten percent of your earnings. If this isn’t possible, just save whatever you can – even if it’s just five dollars a week.
Having and sticking to a budget will help you know where your money goes and will help you live within your means. These acts will eventually help you create a nest egg and pay off debt. Want more information on budgeting? Visit Consumer.gov.
We are extremely proud of our new television commercial! Have you seen it? Click on the image to watch now.
Tomorrow is “Fight Procrastination Day” and in the spirit of fighting procrastination, we decided to write about it a day early. There is an apt saying that compares procrastination to a credit card: it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill.
While procrastination can cause minor inconveniences in a person’s life, it can also be extremely damaging. For example, putting off a trip to the grocery store may inconvenience you by depriving you of milk for your morning cereal. Habitually paying bills late can leave you with a fistful of fees and a damaged credit score.
Every human being procrastinates sometimes. But for those habitual offenders or for those just trying to work around small fits of procrastination, we have some ideas. However, before you start changing your ways, it’s important to identify the real problems. Most people procrastinate for a few basic reasons:
Lack of time – They try to pack too much activity into too little time.
Fatigue – They are too tired to focus or to care about the work ahead.
Lack of organization – They either don’t have the tools needed to work on a project or are so disorganized they can’t find them
Distractions – The chatty co-worker, emails and social media provide a steady of flow of distractions and excuses to start that project later.
Fear – For some it is fear of failure and for others it is fear of success. Sadly, the fear of doing something wrong or looking silly holds back many good people.
Feeling overwhelmed –All of these factors add up very quickly to make a person feel overwhelmed and helpless.
Does any of this sound familiar? If so, read on for suggestions to help control the problems that cause procrastination.
Are there tips here that can help you? Try them today!
Looking for an easy way to control entertainment spending? Why not try using gift cards for these purchases?
It is easy to go over budget on movies, dinner out or new clothes at the mall when you are swiping a debit or credit card. But you may think twice about those entertainment or fun purchases if you know that your spending boundaries are limited to the funds on a gift card.
Gift cards are available for all types of purchases including stores, restaurants and movie theaters, making it easy to “prepay” for the things you want. VCNB also offers a MasterCard ® gift card that is accepted anywhere that MasterCard debit cards are accepted.
Because your receipt from each purchase typically reflects the remaining balance on the card, it is easy to see your dwindling balance and to remember that once the card is depleted, the money for this type of spending is gone.
When purchasing gift cards, remember that the VCNB MasterCard ® gift card is versatile and convenient. If purchasing a gift card for a specific business, consider purchasing from your local pharmacy or grocery store which typically offer rewards points. Another savvy avenue is to check out online gift card retailers that resell unwanted gift cards at a discount.
It may take some getting used to but gift cards are a terrific way to keep your spending in check!
VCNB Family 