First Priority Credit Union

10/09/2026

Reminder: We will be closed Monday, October 11 for Columbus Day.

Send a message to learn more

10/09/2026

Special hours Wednesday, October 14 for off-site testing. In person service will not be available October 14, from 9:00AM until 12:00PM. We will be available by phone while we work from our off-site location. The ATM will be available for withdrawals and the night drop will be available for deposits and payments.

10/08/2026

You don’t have to spend big bucks on ! For costumes, make your own with corn syrup; try using black clothing and masking tape to be a stick figure or turn a white T-shirt into your favorite breakfast food and be a “cereal” killer! Pool noodles sticking out of a garbage can make great “witch legs” with the addition of tights and shoes, and plastic spiders work everywhere from ice cubes to popcorn bowls. When it’s time to eat, float an icy “severed hand” in a punch bowl and use black food coloring to turn innocent pasta into menacing worms. Happy Halloween! What’s your favorite Halloween hack that’s easy on the budget? Tell us all about it in the comments!

10/07/2026

It's REFI-TIME. Get the amazing rate of 3.75% Annual Percentage Rate when you refinance your vehicle from another lender. Get the same great rate for original purchase of new or used vehicles. A 675+ score is required. With approved credit. Call for details.

10/07/2026

We will be closed Monday, October 12 for Columbus Day.

10/06/2026

Education is prohibitively expensive. As a result, students will cut costs any way they can – they take out independent or federal loans, work several jobs, or in some cases, fall victim to predatory scams. These scams, called “diploma mills,” are for-profit companies that do little more than collect your money in exchange for a high-priced piece of paper they call a diploma.

The problem? When you graduate, you will still have paid exorbitant tuition fees without any of the clout that comes with a legitimate degree. Employers are wise to the diploma mill game. Your resume will go to the bottom of the pile.

How to Spot a Diploma Mill

The school is not accredited by a legitimate accrediting institution. Legitimate colleges and universities jealously guard their reputations – and their accrediting bodies do not accredit diploma mills because they do not meet even minimal academic standards.

Diploma mills may even have created fake accreditation organizations to help them mask the scam. The U.S. Department of Education maintains a list of legitimate accrediting institutions. You can verify any school’s accreditation there.

There is little or no actual coursework or learning that takes place. What little there is represents a fraction of the coursework normally required for an associate, baccalaureate, or master’s degree.

The school grants academic credit for your life experience. Most legitimate schools will grant a few credits here and there if you have significant professional experience in a given career field. They may also grant credit for military schooling. They do not grant a significant portion of a degree based upon past life experiences.

There is no professorial contact. Legitimate schools will put you in regular, direct contact with professorial staff. It’s not enough just to send you a reading list.

Aggressive marketing. Most for-profit institutions will do their best to get you to sign on the dotted line. Even legitimate for-profit schools have to keep the lights on. Diploma mills will be more aggressive than most. Don’t give in to sales pressure. Take your time to fully research the institution.

Questionable marketing media. Legitimate colleges generally don’t advertise using deceptive or obnoxious techniques, such as email spam or pop-up web ads. Also, watch out for glaring grammatical or typographical errors in advertising material – it could be a diploma mill.

Flat-fee pricing. Universities typically charge per credit hour or course. Diploma mills are likely to charge a flat fee for a given degree.

Sound-alike names. Diploma mills have been known to use names that are similar to recognized, legitimate institutions. Check the name carefully. Visit the website. If the site seems sparse, the education might be a sham, too.

The Bottom Line

Diploma mills hurt everyone. They dilute the reputations of legitimate institutions and their graduates, while destroying your professional reputation in the process. If you feel you are victimized by a diploma mill, contact your state attorney general’s office. If there is an enforcement record against a given institution, they may be able to warn you or provide you with the appropriate records.

09/25/2026

Ever feel perfectly content with your finances until you see what someone else has?
A coworker gets a raise. A neighbor remodels their kitchen. Someone you follow posts about another expensive vacation. Suddenly, your salary, home, or lifestyle can feel inadequate, even though nothing about your own circumstances has changed.
That is the financial comparison trap, and research suggests feeling behind others can actually increase our personal emphasis on money and possessions. Our latest article explains why this cycle can be so difficult to escape and shares four practical strategies for breaking it.
Read the full article and learn how to measure financial progress by what matters to you, not what someone else has.

09/23/2026

08/13/2026

Automated clearing house (ACH) and wire are the two major ways money moves back and forth in the electronic payment world, but there are some major differences! ACH is a U.S.-only system, but wire transfers can go anywhere in the world (like to that Nigerian prince, but we’ll get to him in a minute). ACH takes one to three days, but wire transfers take only an hour or two. Also, ACH is usually free, but wire transfers can have some pretty big fees attached. ACH has limits on how much you can send, but wires can be for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Both ACH and wires can be hijacked by scammers, but ACH can be traced and reversed, but once you send that wire to that Nigerian prince, the money is gone. Always verify your recipients for either!

08/10/2026

Your wallet can easily become cluttered with loyalty cards, coupons, cash, checks, store credit cards and a host of identification cards. Not only is an over-stuffed wallet a hassle to carry, it may make identity theft easier.

Give your purse or wallet a good once over. Look for things you don’t regularly need, and take them out!

Some things should never be in your purse or wallet. If you see these items as you’re trimming down your daily carry, take them out immediately.

1. Your Social Security card

It’s easy enough to stuff the card into your wallet when you need it for identification and then forget about it.

That could be a big mistake. Thieves can use your original Social Security card to apply for all kinds of unsecured debt in your name. Canceling your Social Security number and getting a new one is a complicated, time-consuming process, and you may be liable for fraud as you do so.

Keep yourself safe, and get the card out of your wallet! Put it in a secure location in your home, like a safety lock box.

2. Receipts

This is by far the easiest way to accumulate paper in your wallet. You never know which might be needed later and you stick them all into your wallet. Before you know it, you’ve got a novel-sized stack of transactions.

This could be serious trouble if your purse or wallet is ever stolen or lost. Thieves can use the last four digits of your credit card number on a receipt to build a profile of your purchases, and can fish for more information with a merchant who has the card on file, like a cable company or an online retailer.

Think about going paperless. Turn your phone into a digital file box. Information can be encrypted to keep it out of the hands of malicious people but still accessible to you if you need to check a purchase.

3. Tons of credit cards

Every store offers its own card and incentives. Those cards can really add up. Tack on an extra couple of cards for gas purchases, everyday expenses and work-related stuff, and you could easily end up with a wallet or purse full of plastic.

If your wallet or purse is stolen, each one of those cards has to be canceled individually. Forgetting even one can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. Thin your collection down to the one or two you use regularly. Look for those that can be widely used, provide the lowest fees and best acceptance rates. Put the rest of them into a safe place at home, using them only when you need them.

Once you’re down to your top cards, make a list of their numbers and the steps you’d need to take to cancel them if necessary.

Your Turn: It’s time to think about what’s tucked into your purse or wallet. What items make your “essential carry” list, and what can you safely leave behind?