Firefighter Credit Union Newsroom

Sound like anyone we know? “Approximately half of its membership is 50 years old or older, says Star One marketing manager Susanna Fong. The 10-year mortgage is meant to entice those members close to retirement to bring their loans — including the remainder of a 30-year-mortgage — to the credit union.” How Star One’s 14-month-old mortgage product attracts both young professionals and soon-to-be retirees. By Erik Payne creditunions.com For borrowers nearing retirement, desirable mortgage options are limited. Long-term loans can extend into retirement years and cut into savings earmarked for food, travel, and other expenses. Short-term loans can make budgeting difficult for the remaining working years. Star One Credit Union ($7.2B, Sunnyvale, CA) understands that borrowers want to be free of loan obligations before they leave the workforce without breaking the bank to do so. So in January of 2014, the credit union introduced a promotional 10-year fixed-rate mortgage that charges no...

  For Apple Pay, it’s 98 and counting. Apple confirmed on Tuesday (March 3) that 17 more financial institutions have gone live with full Apple Pay support in the past two weeks, bringing the total just shy of the century mark, 9to5 Mac reported. To be clear, that’s not the number of banks and credit unions that have signed contracts to support Apple Pay — just the ones that have completed the transition. At least 500 more Visa card issuers — just Visa, not MasterCard — are in the process of setting up the necessary new technology, including tokenization for Apple Pay, Visa CEO Charlie Scharf told analysts during an earnings call in January. Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously said that more than 2,000 financial institutions have signed up for mobile payments system. The March crop so far includes just one bank — Bank of Hawaii, which says on its website that Apple Pay will be available soon for “select Bank of Hawaii debit cards” — as well as 16 credit unions: Affinity Plus Fede...