Credit unions offer many of the same services you find at other financial institutions, but sometimes use different words to describe familiar activities. It's all part of what makes credit unions significantly different from other financial service providers.

Your credit union savings represent your "share" in the financial cooperative, which is what a credit union is. Thus, you have a share savings account, or, for a fixed-term account, a share certificate account. And if you have an account you use, for example, to pay bills and finance daily recreation, you have a share draft account, so named because you're able to draw on your shares. In all respects, these accounts work the same way savings, certificate of deposit, and checking accounts work at other institutions.

Read the full article to make sure we're all speaking the same language!
 

Copyright 2008 Credit Union National Association Inc. Information subject to change without notice. For use with members of a single credit union. All other rights reserved.

When your monthly statement comes, there's a great temptation to pay only the minimum. Don't do it. Read your statement carefully for information about how long it would take to pay off your account balance if you only pay the minimum payment. It can take years, even decades, to pay it off. If possible, always pay the balance in full every month or pay more than the minimum amount. Doing so will help you to establish an excellent credit rating, a score used by lenders to determine the rate you will pay on your loan.   

Just look at what paying only the minimum payment really means:    

For more tips, click here.

Taken from http://mycreditunion.gov/for-you/paying-off-credit-cards.html 

You're probably weary of being reminded to take precautions against identity theft, but here's a wrinkle you may not have considered: Identity thieves have broadened their reach by harvesting children's dormant Social Security numbers (SSNs) and using them to illegally obtain jobs, credit accounts, mortgages or car loans and much worse.

Many victims have no inkling anything is amiss until they later apply for a student loan, bank account, job or apartment and are turned down because of poor credit history. Some families have even been hounded by collection agencies or served with arrest warrants because the debts or criminal activities thieves executed were so extreme.

There's no completely foolproof way to protect your child's identity, but you can click here for some precautions you can take.

Taken from www.practicalmoneyskills.com