UTFCU members will soon be able to access account information, check balances, view transactions, and transfer funds between accounts on their cell phones using our new mobile banking platform. Although the official launch is still a couple weeks off, we’re looking for a few volunteers to participate in our beta program and help us test the system on a variety of devices. Please leave a comment below (make sure to provide a valid email address in the comment form), DM us on Twitter, or call the credit union if you’re interested in participating and we’ll take care of the rest.
UTFCU is pleased to join thousands of credit unions across the globe in celebrating International Credit Union day on Thursday, October 16. This year’s theme, “It Belongs To Me,” underlines one of the core attributes all credit unions share: ownership by their members. We want to know what you think makes credit unions special.
We’ve created a way for you to share your opinion on what makes the CU difference using one of our favorite tools, Twitter. If you’re already using Twitter, share your response by placing #cu_difference somewhere in a message.
Example response: #cu_difference I love the friendly customer service I always receive at my credit union.
If you’re not a Twitter user and would like to participate, I encourage you to sign up for a free account here and make sure to follow UTFCU to receive updates on what’s happening at the credit union along with information on featured products and promotions.
The past few days of cooler weather and the first sightings of leaves changing color reminds us that it is now officially Autumn. I’ve always enjoyed this time of year because it marks the beginning of the UT football season, because of the beauty it brings to the mountains of East Tennessee along with the demise of the mosquitoes and yellow jackets that prevent me from enjoying the great outdoors during the summer months, and because it ushers in a whole slew of reasons to relax in front of the television. That’s right, we’re in the heart of season premiere country now and I’m wondering what everyone thinks about the offerings this year.
As a web developer/internet junkie that spends more time at Best Buy than in the gym, I was particularly excited about the premiere of my favorite series from last year, Chuck. While I did enjoy this week’s episode, it just didn’t seem quite as entertaining this time around. It looks like several highly anticipated season premieres didn’t get the numbers they enjoyed last year, including Heroes and Life.
Reviewing the numbers made me wonder- What is everyone watching and how are you watching it? Has DVR, the ability to watch full episodes online, and the addition of more shows to the iTunes music store changed the way you watch television? I’d love to know what you think. Let me know what about your favorite series and your favorite way to get your TV fix by leaving a comment below. I’ve got some free music download cards that I’ll give to the first 5 people who leave a comment. Sorry, I can’t mail them, so you’ll need to swing by the credit union on White Avenue to pick them up.
I love all of the new and interesting ways individuals and companies are using sms (text) messages these days, and judging from the number of people I see texting and walking on Cumberland Avenue, it looks like I’m not alone. In a previous post, I mentioned a few of my favorite mobile productivity tools, several of which made use of text messaging. In this post we’ll talk about two additional services that allow you to use text messages in new, interesting ways.
Tatango
Now that school is in full swing, you probably find yourself juggling homework, your social life, your job, and probably even a number of school-related projects all at the same time. There’s a good chance that you use your mobile telephone to call teammates or friends to schedule things like study sessions and meetings, but what if you could send one text message to update an entire group of people?
Tatango helps make life easier by allowing you to create groups of contacts and easily send messages to all members through your mobile phone or a web interface. As Tatango describes on their website,
“Send one message directly from your computer or mobile phone to all of your group members, keeping them connected anytime, anywhere.”
Using the site is extremely easy. After you’ve activated your account, simply use the control panel to create a contact group. Although you can join several groups with the free plan, you’re only allowed to create and manage one group at a time without opting for the pro account. Once you’ve setup your account and created a group, update members by sending text messages to Tatango’s short code or login and use the web interface.
ReacTee
ReacTee helps you “promote your causes and express yourself with shirts that text back.” The site allows you to create and purchase interactive shirts that you can use to help spread the word about your organization or your interests. Each shirt features a keyword that anyone can text to 41411 for additional information. Within seconds, users receive a reply with a custom message you create just for your shirt. Changing the outgoing message is easily accomplished through a control panel on the company’s site.
Some examples mentioned on the ReacTee website include a New York DJ who uses her shirt to accept requests during parties and a sports fan who updates his response with his favorite team’s schedule.
Drop us a line if you’re using either of these tools or any other service you think we should know about. You can also text UTFCU to 25827 for important credit union news and promotions!
This Saturday’s matchup between the UT Vols and Florida Gators promises to be one we won’t soon forget. UT Federal Credit Union and the Orange Nation want you to join them for a Gator Hater Bash this Saturday to celebrate the rivalry, enjoy a seafood boil, and help the UT baseball team raise money to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Everyone is welcome, and face painting will be available for the young UT fans. Tickets for the seafood boil are only $5, so be sure to join in on Andy Holt Avenue to celebrate before the UT-Florida game, from 11-2 this Saturday.
Orange Nation will be kicking the party off at 11:00 a.m. at the Orange Nation headquarters located at 1811 Andy Holt Ave
On Saturday, September 13 UTFCU hosted the first of two tailgate parties in the parking lot of our main office on White Avenue. Credit union employees cooked hot dogs, prepared popcorn, handed out drinks, and enjoyed getting a chance to relax with some fellow UT fans. We have uploaded some of the pictures from the party to our Flickr group, utfcu-rocks, so surf by our page and take a look when you have a chance.
We’d love to see your tailgate pictures too! Add your pictures to our Flickr Group or submit a comment with a link to your photos.
Remember, we’re hosting another tailgate party before the Florida game this weekend. If you didn’t have a chance to make it to the last one, take a few minutes to visit us this week. We will have plenty of food along with games and music download cards to give away!
Posted by utfcu-brandon on 09/16 at 10:32 AM in
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A couple weeks ago we announced the first set of winners in our UTFCU Rocks Contest. Today, We are pleased to announce 8 more winners of student UT football season ticket vouchers.
Congratulations to . . .
Jessica Conley
Nicholas Hymes
Erika Lauderdale
Jessica Briley
Mark Britnell
Zac Farmer
Alex Wanee
Joan Cooper
Congratulations to all of the winners! If you haven’t had a chance to sing Rocky Top for your chance to win, make sure to swing by our upcoming tailgate parties located at 2100 White Avenue (behind Mellow Mushroom on the strip) on Saturday, September 13 or Saturday, September 20. We will have plenty of free hot dogs, popcorn, and music download cards. We hope to see you there!
Posted by utfcu-brandon on 09/11 at 08:52 AM in
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We try to make banking easy at UTFCU. You may already know that as a member of UT Federal Credit Union you have access to over 25,000 surcharge-free ATMs across the country along with the ability to make transactions at over 3,300 shared branch locations. That means that you never have to look too far for a way to get to your money. In addition, we’ve recently added two new features that make banking with UTFCU even easier than before.
Online Account Opening
The first is online account opening and funding, which means that you can save time and gas money by opening your Power U checking account from your home computer. While we would still love to see you at any of our branches, we realize that you’ve got a lot on your plate – especially at the beginning of the semester! If you’re interested in opening an additional account (like a savings account for Spring Break) or if you’re new to the area and haven’t opened an account yet, visit this link to get started. If your parents are helping pay the bills, they can even fund the account with their credit card so you don’t have to carry cash around with you.
Account to Account Transfers
Another useful tool that we’ve recently added is the ability to make transfers between your UTFCU accounts and those at another financial institution. Once you’ve setup and verified your external account(s), you can easily transfer money to and from your UTFCU account with a few mouse clicks. This is a great convenience if you want to maintain an account at another bank or credit union but plan on switching a majority of your banking to UTFCU.
AT UTFCU, we’re always thinking of new ways to make banking easier for U. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have an idea for a service or product that you would like to see at UTFCU. You might also want to keep an eye on the utfcu-rocks.com – we’re working on some other exciting projects that we can’t talk about just yet . . .
Posted by utfcu-brandon on 09/08 at 08:10 AM in
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UTFCU is happy to announce the first 10 winners in our UTFCU Rocks contest! We asked our favorite bar tender, Matt at the Mellow Mushroom, to draw a lucky winner for our first Wii package giveaway on Friday, August 23. He pulled out Paris Wade‘s registration form from the many entries. In addition, we’ve also drawn the first 9 of the 20 available student season ticket vouchers.
And the winners are . . .
Danielle Woody
John Baxter
Elizabeth Neutens
Heather Duck
Chris Bernaski
Haley Jones
Ashley Cross
Robert Keith
Fernando Dreyfus
Alex Wanee
Congratulations to Paris and all the other winners!
If you haven’t won yet, don’t worry! There’s still plenty of time to submit your Rocky Top videos or visit either of our upcoming tailgate parties to register for your chance to win.
Posted by utfcu-brandon on 08/26 at 02:38 PM in
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Wow, things have really been busy around here! Today’s post is a continuation of the last one, where we mentioned some of the exciting events we’ve been lucky enough to be a part of. Since the last post, we’ve climbed rock walls, met tons of new people at a second U Nite 4 Rock event, hosted autograph sessions with Heather Harrington at two of our branches, and been able to show off our new tent at the Orange Nation BBQ party. You can view pictures of most of these events by going to our Flickr group page. We’ve also been carrying our trusty Flip video cameras with us everywhere we go to grab footage of people singing Rocky Top for a chance to win football ticket vouchers and music download cards. If you haven’t looked at the contest page in a while, now is a good time to head over there. We have over 60 entries with more coming in every day!
Teri climbing the rock
Heather Harrington signing autographs
Orange Nation BBQ
U Nite 4 Rock at Mellow Mushroom
Posted by utfcu-brandon on 08/26 at 01:51 PM in
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The beginning of the Fall semester is a busy time for everyone, including us. In the past several days, we’ve been on campus at various locations and events talking about the benefits of becoming a member of UT Federal Credit Union, encouraging you to sing Rocky Top for a chance to win a Wii, and inviting you to Guitar Hero night at the the Mellow Mushroom. If we’ve missed you, don’t worry, there are still plenty of chances to have fun and learn more about UTFCU. We’re hosting another Guitar Hero night along with two tailgate parties and several other exciting events, which you can learn more about by visiting our online calendar. Feel free to take a look at what we’ve been up to.
If you haven’t already heard, UTFCU is proud to be the official bank of Orange Nation! Our new partnership allows us to support UT students and athletics by providing monetary resources to the organization along with several new scholarships for its members.
Read the full press release below:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Knoxville, Tenn. (August 5, 2008) – As the University of Tennessee Volunteers are gearing up for the 2008-2009 season, the Orange Nation is working to coordinate another year of student support and excitement. UT Federal Credit Union (UTFCU) has joined this support network by becoming the “Official Bank of Orange Nation.” The partnership between Orange Nation and UTFCU will provide Orange Nation with additional monetary resources to reach out to students in coordinating the support network counted on by athletes, coaches, and other Volunteer fans when facing another season of fierce SEC competition.
“UT is very important to us, it’s even part of our name,” Debbie Jones, UT Federal Credit Union CEO, said. “As important as athletics are to all of us, the students are our primary reason for entering this partnership. Americans under the age of 25 are filing bankruptcy faster than any other age group. We want to reach out to college students and help them get their financial lives on the right foot.”
According to Daniel Ezelle, Vice President of the Orange Nation, “Orange Nation is delighted to have UT Federal Credit Union facilitate our financial services. Orange Nation’s affiliation with UTFCU has not only granted us with preeminent financial services, it has also allowed UTFCU to offer several scholarships for Orange Nation members.”
UTFCU is doing far more than sponsoring Orange Nation as it reaches out to the student population this year. “We have several special events planned in the coming months,” adds Malinda Wood, UT Federal Credit Union Marketing Manager. “Tailgate parties are planned for the first two home football games, we’ve designed an interactive student oriented web site (UTFCU-ROCKS.COM), hosting Guitar Hero and ‘Sing Rocky Top’ events, and we’re giving away free music cards, a Nintendo Wii, 20 UT student football season ticket vouchers, and much more.”
This digital lifestyle post is all about staying productive while you're on the go. Whether it's using Google's text message service to get directions or using rememberthemilk.com to manage your to-to list, these free tools will help you manage your hectic life! Check out some of our favorite services below.
GOOG-411 for your phone
Google makes it easy to find any business for free using your mobile phone. Next time you're driving and need to call in a takeout order or check to see if your favorite video rental store has the movie you're looking for, try calling 1-800-GOOG-4411 (1-800-466-4411). Once connected, just say the name of the business you're looking for and you will be connected automatically or say “text message” and receive the address and telephone number sent to you via SMS. Click here for more information.
Google SMS
Life without Google wouldn't be worth living. Ok, perhaps that was a little dramatic, but it certainly wouldn't be as easy! Did you know that you can harness the power of Google search through your mobile phone using SMS (text messages)? Simply send a text message to 466453 with your search terms as the body of the message and you'll get a text message response in a few seconds. View the demo or check out some of the supported searches by clicking here.
Jott.com
I see people texting and driving all the time (they're usually swerving into my lane). What always amazes me is that more people aren't using Jott instead of typing everything by hand. After you're registered for a free account and setup your profile, sending messages to your friends or composing a quick reminder for yourself using Jott is as simple as calling a telephone number and speaking. If you've got voice dialing on your mobile phone, setup Jott as a contact and you don't even have to dial the number! If you're a regular text message/email machine during your daily commute, go ahead and give Jott a try.
Remember the Milk
There are tons of ways to manage to-do lists online, but my favorite one happens to be Remember The Milk. With RTM, you can add items to your lists in a number of ways including Twitter and email. RTM makes it easy to stay up to date by scheduling reminders through email, SMS, or instant messenger. There are too many cool features to mention here, but you can learn about all of them by going to the website and signing up for a free account.
Do you use a free tool that's not listed here? We're always looking for new stuff to check out. Share your tips with us and other readers by adding a comment below!
Posted by utfcu-brandon on 07/16 at 03:54 PM in
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When you're buying dinner, paying for gas, or using your UTFCU check card at a retail store, you're probably asked whether you want to process the transaction as debit or credit. Although both types of transactions withdraw money from your checking account, there are important differences between the two options. Check out these videos if you're ever wondered which type of transaction is best for you.
A big thanks goes out to everyone at UT Hospital who participated in the video and to crew at UTFCU's hospital branch (Janet, Amanda, Patti, and Jennifer) for their creativity!
Regular Version
Sock Puppet Version!
Do you have a suggestion for a future financial tip? If so, we'd love to hear about it. Let us know what you think by adding a comment below.
