College students, with their focus rightly on their studies and other things, often do not think about concepts such as credit scores and credit reports. It is often not until graduation that most people start to think about these things. BB&T, a bank that has a location in Athens, is trying to change that. On April 19 and 20, the BB&T bus was parked outside the student center of Concord University. Its goal: to help students become aware of exactly what credit is, how it operates, and to give credit reports to those that came to see them. In addition to all of that, BB&T also gave advice to help students plan financially for however much time they have left at college.
BB&T regularly has these events in many areas where they operate, and they are known as Financial Empowerment Days. Debra Arrington, the Market Leader at the Athens BB&T Branch, said that these financial empowerment days help with community development and growth. “The bank bus travels around to a lot of areas. The bus is owned by BB&T and is driven by Shane Johnson, our bus driver. He had the bus in New Jersey last week, and then next week he will be in Alabama. People set up appointments for him to come with this bus. He also does faith based groups. He does other things with the bus. It’s all approved by BB&T and set up through BB&T. So if anyone wants to use the bus for an event, they just need to let us know about it, and we can set it right up.”
Many people came in and out of the BB&T bus over the course of the two days that it was on campus. Arrington said that one of the things that was offered inside of the bus was giving students free credit reports. According to federal law, any citizen of the United States is allowed to check their credit score for free at least once every year. Several computers were set up on the bus just for that purpose, and students lined up to check their credit reports from the three credit reporting agencies used to determine credit: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. It is important to check a person’s credit score from all three reporting agencies, as the number reported may vary depending on which report is observed.
Students were also able to get credit for their Education 101 class by filling out a short essay. In addition, the staff members at BB&T offered financial counsel on how credit affects a person’s ability to take out loans, and on how to build good credit early. “When you’re 18,” Arrington explained, “You can immediately start working on building credit. If you’ve never had credit, you can get something called a secure credit card from BB&T. Other places offer it, too. The BB&T secured credit card has no annual fee. With this secured credit card, you open up a savings account, you put money in about four or five hundred dollars. We secure those savings and give you a credit card. So when you use that credit card, you’re taking from those savings while at the same time building credit.” Arrington said that building good credit is an important thing, as having good credit means that when someone goes to purchase a home, that person will able to get better interest rates on a mortgage. With this event, Concord students are now hopefully more informed about the world of finances.