Falls Career students go on a financial well-being field trip
Falls Career High School student D’Aundre Wall (left) thanks Lisa Crawford, First United Bank financial well-being specialist, for teaching him the value of credit scores and which loans to obtain.
STAFF WRITER JENNIFER FIERRO
MARBLE FALLS — As soon as the students from Falls Career High School gathered in the lobby at First United Bank, they couldn’t stop asking questions of the bank’s staff:
Do overdrafts attack your credit scores?
What’s the minimum amount to open an account?
What are the best ways to improve your credit scores?
Lisa Crawford, who serves as the bank’s financial well-being specialist, had been meeting with about 30 students weekly throughout the fall semester to teach them how to save money, how to apply for a loan, and what types of loans are available.
On this particular field trip Dec. 13, the students got a look at the bank, from the teller’s stations to the coin-counting machine, and learned the value of simply saving coins.
The idea behind the program and bank visit is to help students develop a financial literacy they aren’t learning elsewhere.
J. Don McAlpin, the facility’s vice president, told the students how to apply for a loan after handing out credit applications. He told them what financial institutions look for in an ideal loan candidate.
“If someone has a good job and steady income,” he said. “We look at what their ongoing expenses are. We don’t want to overextend you if you have too much debt.”
He told them it takes three or four years to rebuild bad credit and seven years to recover from bankruptcy.
McAlpin said part of the bank’s mission is to give back to the community, noting it wants to help people “live life wisely,” which is its slogan. And part of that is helping high school students learn how to take care of their financial well-being.
“We try to educate and empower customers to be better with their money,” he said.
That includes teaching them about credit cards and how to build rainy day funds.
Falls Career principal Peggy Little contacted Crawford about teaching the students about investments, but Crawford suggested teaching the students the gamut of financial skills they’d need now and in the future.
McAlpin pointed out if that students don’t know how to save money, it makes it harder to purchase a vehicle and a house down the road.
Junior D’Aundre Wall said listening to Crawford has helped him tremendously. He wants to start building his credit at a young age. Before listening to Crawford, Wall said he didn’t know what a credit score was and barely understood what a debit card was.
“I know personal finance is something I’m going to need,” he said. “It’s better to learn it before I graduate.”
Crawford said she learned plenty from the students, too.
“I have more faith in our kids,” she said. “They need this, they need it, but nobody sees the need well enough to give it to them.”
To help them engage with her, Crawford created games that taught the students why learning this stuff is important.
McAlpin encouraged students to become the type of borrowers who are so well-known for paying back their loans that all the financiers require are signatures on a note from them.
“You have the opportunity to build it right,” McAlpin said. “If there’s an unsolicited credit card coming into the mail, don’t sign up. But if you do, use good judgment and pay it off every month.”
Crawford said she plans to return to the school next semester to teach them how to handle and balance a checking account, how to create budget, and more about debt myths.