ChoiceOne Bank is honored to receive a Financial Literacy award once again from the Michigan Bankers Association (MBA). ChoiceOne Bank Vice President of Marketing, Danielle Chateauvert, accepted the 2022 award at the MBA Best Conference held recently in Traverse City.
Each year, the Michigan Bankers Association recognizes member banks for their outstanding work in financial literacy. The MBA Financial Literacy Awards recognize the industry’s hard work in financial literacy education and what member banks provide their customers and communities. ChoiceOne was recognized for the educational opportunities they offer to individuals and families to help save and purchase their first home.
“We are honored to once again receive the MBA Financial Literacy Award,” said ChoiceOne Bank President Michael J. Burke, Jr. “At ChoiceOne Bank, we understand first-time homeowners because we’ve been helping those in our communities buy homes for 124 years. We work with first-time homebuyers who are often unaware of how cost effective it is to buy a home when they are paying rent. In many cases, it can be less expensive to make a mortgage payment than to pay rent. Education is key to understanding the mortgage process and becoming a homeowner. Our teams excel at providing education.”
One significant program ChoiceOne Bank’s marketing team created to educate homebuyers is the Facebook Road to Homeownership Private Group. “Anyone interested in learning more about buying a home, budgeting, and all the other issues consumers face when considering home ownership will benefit from joining Road to Homeownership on Facebook,” said Chateauvert. “Our followers are offered seminars, videos and informative content to help them successfully work toward buying a home. Join our Road to Homeownership Facebook Private Group by…”
Facebook Road to Homeownership Private Group highlights:
- Eight employees manage and provide content and engagement for the Group
- Educational videos and topics include:
- Home Start Loan Program offered by ChoiceOne Bank
- Mortgage basics
- How to manage expenses
- What makes up a credit score
- Common questions on how to improve a credit score
- Budgeting
- And more
Below are some of the additional programs ChoiceOne participates in along with local nonprofit partners to help make an impact in local communities through education and financial literacy.
- Hola Linea customer service line answered in the Sparta Customer Service Center to offer Spanish speaking customers a Spanish speaking ChoiceOne employee.
- Fresh Start Credit Builder Program (Fresh Start CD Loan) is a program intended to assist those without credit to establish credit in an easy and affordable way.
- KickStart to Career & Lapeer Education Attainment Fund (LEAF) Programs to present financial education and help school children establish savings programs that begin in kindergarten.
- GreenPath Financial Wellness, a trusted national nonprofit focused on financial wellness for everyone. GreenPath provides counseling for credit, debt, homebuying, foreclosure, bankruptcy, and other financial literacy topics.
- Financial Freedom Workshop – ChoiceOne Bank has partnered with Oakland Hope to provide in person workshops
- Sparta Area Migrant Resource Council
- Muskegon Oceana Community Action Partnership (MOCAP)
- Family Literacy Center
- And much more
“We always believe healthy individuals, families and businesses make for healthy communities. As a community bank, we pride ourselves on community outreach,” said Burke. “On any given day, you will see many of our ChoiceOne Bank employees serving in leadership and volunteer roles with numerous organizations making an impact in in the communities ChoiceOne serves across West and Southeast Michigan. We are proud of our ChoiceOne teams as they continue to fulfill our mission to provide superior service, quality advice and show our utmost respect to everyone we meet.”