Think all STCU members are alike? Think again.
STCU "power users" may look like the member next door, but they actually are fearless financial masters, pushing out the envelope of services offered by the credit union. Like the young mother who uses her STCU CheckCard nearly 130 times every month. Sometimes just to buy a postage stamp.
Power users come in all sizes, all walks of life. Perhaps you're one of them. Perhaps there's one living in your home. Here are four who tap into STCU services for a common purpose -- to better manage their financial life:
Credit union records show that Sparber leads all 77,000 members in use of the STCU CheckCard, swiping her card an average of 128 times a month. That's four times a day, year round.
"I'm not your average shopper," admits the bright 26-year-old. "I go to the grocery store two times a day, the mall once a week. I have two cars to fill with gas. I eat out probably too much. I don't use cash and checks are too slow."
Sparber packs more into her weekly schedule than most people do in a month. She attends nursing school through Eastern Washington University (where some parking meters will take debit cards) and works for Northwest MedStar as a high-flying emergency nurse. She just gave birth to son, Colton, and scrambles to keep up with Trenton, her three-year-old.
Sparber pays all her bills, including the cell phone, daycare, and tuition, with the CheckCard. Most of her statements arrive electronically, so she lives a paperless life. Some of Sparber's favorite stops are Starbucks, Safeway, Babies 'R' Us, and Overstock.com.
She's also getting married and shopping for a house, so there will be plenty of opportunities in the future to swipe her card.
"I think this paperless thing is genetic," laughs Sparber, who has an undergraduate degree in psychology. "Not long ago, I caught my great-grandfather buying groceries online at Safeway. It's in the blood."
There are many "remote" users of STCU services, but credit union records show that Turner lives further away than any member on earth. Jakarta, with nearly 10 million residents, is the capital city of the Republic of Indonesia, a nation of 17,500 islands spread across the South Pacific. Turner's K-12 school educates 2,300 foreign students, whose parents come to Indonesia for business or diplomatic purposes.
Turner has been in Jakarta for eight years. Prior to that, she taught in the South American nations of Uruguay and Colombia. Turner can manage her STCU accounts using STCU's Computer-Aided Telephone Teller (CATT®) toll-free at (800) 634-0311, or STCU's secure home banking service at www.stcu.org. Sometimes she stays up until after midnight (Jakarta time) to chat online with an STCU Member Service Representative during Spokane business hours.
"I wire money to my son (in Ohio) for his university fees, or to my Indonesian bank account if I have an emergency expense, and I use BillPay to pay my own student loans that helped me earn a master's degree," she says.
"Get out and explore the world," Turner says, "and take STCU with you!"
Born 57 years before the first home computers were marketed, Ostness turned 101 in August. She has lived through five wars and 18 presidents, raised a family, served as a courthouse bailiff, and was a local and state officer in the PTA.
After her husband died about 30 years ago, Ostness joined the Hobnailers Hiking Club of Spokane, logging 5,419 miles on every continent except Antarctica.
"She was always gung ho," says Virginia Danke, a club officer who traveled with Ostness. "China, Thailand, the Berlin Wall, tenting in Kenya, boating in England. We were best friends; we walked the world together."
Ostness humbly shrugs off questions about her world travels and accomplishments. She says she was apprehensive of automobiles growing up, so she never learned to drive. Instead, she walked everywhere or rode the bus.
Time and age have slowed her pace, but Ostness still cares for herself and visits her summer cabin on Loon Lake. Her children, Al Ostness, a retired Mead High School math teacher, and Karin Drinkard, live nearby. She also has five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
And miles of memories.
And that's just this week. Taylor isn't just dreaming of his future, he's taking steps to prepare for it.
At age 16, the fast-talking student marched into STCU's North Branch, laid $100 on the desk, and opened an Individual Retirement Account. All by himself.
"Mom took me to lunch to celebrate," says Taylor, a 2006 Mead High School graduate who recently turned 20. "I felt like I had stepped up my game, doing some adult moves now."
Taylor is the youngest STCU member to open his own IRA, credit union records show.
Taylor enjoys playing guitar at parties, and attends Spokane Falls Community College with hopes of a earning a business degree with a minor in music.
He cooks at an Indian Trail restaurant, drives a white Ford Focus, and lives with his grandmother in the suburbs to save money. He even persuaded a buddy to open an IRA.
"My mom and stepfather were always telling me about the importance of money," says Taylor, who managed his parents' espresso stand when he was 17. "Social Security may not be around when I'm older, so you got to do something for yourself."
When he retires, Taylor says, he wants to have the means to help others.
"Anybody can spend money," he winks, "but only a few can save it."
