Credit Builder Products
Rates
As part of our commitment to supporting our members at every stage of their financial journeys, the ELCA Federal Credit Union offers loan products and other tools designed to help you establish or rebuild your credit history.
Fresh Start Unsecured Loan
With a rate of 18.00% APR*, which is well below the national average, the Fresh Start unsecured loan is more affordable than a typical payday or credit builder loan. It is a great tool for building or rebuilding your credit.
- Account requirements: Become a member by opening a credit union Savings Account with as little as a $25 deposit
- Borrow up to $2,000, funds disbursed all at once
- Flexible repayment term up to 12 months‡
- Lower cost than typical payday loans and gives you more time to repay
- Structured to help you make on-time payments with low interest rates and no added fees
- Can establish or reestablish credit by making loan payments on time
Savings Secured Credit Card
Put your savings to work towards building and establishing credit with a credit card secured against your savings account.
- Account requirements: Become a member by opening a credit union Savings Account with as little as a $25 deposit
- Must maintain a savings deposit equivalent of 110% of your desired credit limit
- You must complete at least 12 on-time payments over no less than 12 months
- After this, you may request a review to transition from a secured to unsecured card
- The deposit will earn interest in the savings account where the security deposit is held
- Establish or reestablish credit by making timely payments
- Your savings secured card will come with our lowest available credit card interest rate at the time of application
- Compatible with digital wallets on most major payment platforms: Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay
Savings Secured Loan
Our lowest priced loan offering comes with a fixed rate and term, and offers a path to establish or reestablish credit history by making timely payments.
- Account requirements: Become a member by opening a credit union Savings Account with as little as a $25 deposit
- Loan amount must be at least $500
- Establish or reestablish credit by making timely payments over the life of the loan, at a net cost of only 3.00%
- The amount deposited into your savings account will be pledged to collateralize the loan for the same amount
- Throughout the duration of the loan term, you have two options:
- Leave the entire deposited amount pledged in the savings account until the loan is paid in full
- Elect to have the principal amount from each monthly payment made available
- For example, if your monthly payment is $100, where $95 of the payment goes to principal and $5 goes to interest, the $95 would become available from your pledged savings deposit
Mobile App: Account Access Whenever, Wherever
With our mobile app available for Android and Apple devices, you can:
- Deposit checks using Remote Deposit Capture*
- Search for a free ATM nearby
- Pay bills
- Transfer funds to/from internal and external (A2A) accounts
- Send money to anyone by text or email using person-to-person payments (P2P)
- Check your credit score in real time
- Sign up for eAlerts and much more
*First-time remote deposit users must complete a brief enrollment process. Launch our app, select Remote Deposit and then click Sign Up to enroll. New users are typically approved by the following business day. Normal check-hold policies apply.
Free Online Banking: Freedom to Bank from Wherever You Are
Every ELCA Federal Credit Union feature is at your fingertips, quickly, securely and completely free with It’s Me 247 online banking.
- Access all of your savings account details online, including account balances, pending transactions and a complete transaction history with links to images of checks
- Open a checking account, secondary savings account or CD
- Apply for a loan or credit card
- Get your free monthly eStatement online as soon as it’s ready. No waiting for the mail. And because it’s paperless, it’s the green way to bank.
- Set up free eAlerts to let you know if an account balance is low or high, when an automatic withdrawal or deposit is made or when a loan payment is due
- Complete Member-to-Member (M2M) transfers, which allow you to transfer funds immediately and directly to other ELCA Federal Credit Union members
- With Account-to-Account (A2A) Transfers you can link your ELCA FCU account with your accounts at other financial institutions and transfer funds to and from these accounts free of charge.
- Quickly and easily transfer funds to anyone using Person-2-Person (P2P) payments. All you need is an email address or cell phone number. This service is free of charge and in most cases, the money arrives in just a couple of days. Must be enrolled in our free bill pay.
Free eStatements
Enroll online now to receive eStatements – the faster, greener, paperless way to track account activity. Your 12 most recent eStatements will always be available online and at the beginning of each month, you’ll be notified by email when your eStatement is ready to view or download. Download your account information into your choice of Microsoft Money, Intuit Quicken, or Intuit Quickbooks and CSV format. Also available is the legacy file version (QIF) for use in older programs.
Enroll now!Paper statements are available for $1 per month to cover printing and postage costs.
eAlerts
Stay on top of your finances by enrolling for eAlerts. Receive an email or text message to notify you of any of the following:
- When your account balance is above or below a designated threshold
- When an ACH deposit or withdrawal occurs
- Loan payment due date
- General account notices for overdrafts, CD maturity and more
SavvyMoney: Financial empowerment at your fingertips
Stay on top of your credit health with SavvyMoney—a free tool available in ELCA FCU’s Online Banking and mobile app. Use it to:
- Access your credit score on demand
- Identify opportunities to save money on existing debt
- Set up fast-acting fraud alerts
- Get tips on establishing, maintaining or improving your credit score
