Winston-Salem, NC – Members Credit Union announced today that Morganton’s Dianne Stuart has been elected the first ever What Are You Saving For? Biggest Saver. Stuart attracted 44% of the nearly 700 online votes to earn the saving program’s inaugural grand prize: a $2,000 share certificate.
The credit union’s What Are You Saving For? program asks participants to set a short- to mid-ranged savings objectives and helps them budget, save, and win prizes to meet those goals. The program’s purpose is to reintroduce the credit union principal of thrift, encouraging members to save more, spend less, and use credit wisely. Attached to the program is a high-yield savings account and a blog on which savers can share their savings successes, failures, and tips.
Stuart’s goal was to save $5,000 for her daughter’s wedding. Her strategy involved driving less, eating at home more, using coupons, and joining a movie rental club to save on entertainment. At the heart of her success, though, was setting up regimented, systematic savings into the credit union.
“There is a silver lining in the current economic cloud,” says Jack V. Braswell, Jr., MCU President/CEO. “Thrift is once again a hot topic. Dianne exemplifies the positive changes we all must make in our financial lives to be better consumers, better savers, and better prepared for all of life’s bumps and scrapes.”
What Are You Saving For? has earned widespread recognition, including features in Fast Company Magazine and Yahoo! Finance, for its simple, yet powerful, way of promoting responsibility in personal finance. Its website, whatareyousavingfor.com, has attracted nearly ten thousand visitors since launching in April, and account balances are expected to reach nearly a half million dollars and 700 participants by the end of the program’s first twelve months.
The next Biggest Saver competition will take place in April 2009, with contestants selected from participation on the What Are You Saving For? blog.