"Now I can watch my credit score grow along with my bank account."
Home branch: Broken Arrow North
Members since: 2013 and 2018
Justin and Jaclyn’s biggest financial goal was to be debt-free.
When they got married in February of 2018, they were looking for a budgeting system that worked for them. They liked the “envelope system” method of budgeting, where you put your budget categories into envelopes to prevent spending more than budgeted, but hated carrying around envelopes of cash.
Instead, Justin set up digital “envelopes” in TTCU’s online banking system, using Money Manager.
“Thanks to (TTCU’s Money Manager), I was able to give each individual dollar an actual job,” Justin said. “It keeps money from just disappearing, getting spent in wrong categories or on (impulse purchases). We’ve been able to pay off about (a significant amount) of debt in around two years. Now we’re very close to debt-free.”
Once he started tracking his expenses in Money Manager, Justin noticed that he was still being charged in error for a gym membership he had cancelled two years earlier. TTCU staff worked with him and the gym to get the money refunded and back into his account.
“TTCU has been fantastic to work with,” Justin said. “I’m not sure I would’ve been able to get all those payments returned without their help.”
Thanks to his efforts to pay off his debt, Justin also saw his credit score grow. He signed up for Savvy Money*, which allows TTCU members to see their credit score every time they log into online banking.
“Now I can watch my credit score grow along with my bank account,” Justin said.
Justin and Jaclyn also appreciate the fact that TTCU supports local schools. When they set up their accounts, they chose Broken Arrow School Pride® cards because Jaclyn graduated from there.
“I liked the fact that some of the money I spent was donated back to a local high school,” Justin said.
Now Justin and Jaclyn look forward to post-COVID traveling and possibly putting in an outdoor living space at their home.
“We’ll be debt-free in January,” Justin said. “I can’t stress enough how this helped me to pay off an insane amount of (debt).”