More Cool Uses for Text Messages

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!

Gator Hater Bash

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

UTFCU Hosts Tailgate Party

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!

UTFCU Announces Second Round of Winners

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!

New Account Features at UTFCU

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 . . .