This Credit Union’s Education-Focused Approach Helps Members Make Better Money Decisions

In a Nutshell: Altra Federal Credit Union offers its members competitive banking products. But the institution prides itself on its mission to help its members live their best lives. The credit union hosts educational podcasts and seminars to bolster the financial wellness of its members. Altra Federal Credit Union is committed to providing comprehensive and personalized financial guidance — a commitment that has earned it our Editor’s Choice™ Award.

Students who graduate from high school and begin their adult lives may quickly learn the importance of sound money management skills. Many adults wish they had had a formal financial education during high school that prepared them for the economic challenges they encounter as adults, but personal finance isn’t always on the curriculum for high school students.

Without an education in personal finance, students may turn to their families or friends to inform their approach to money management. But they may also turn to their financial institution for guidance, especially if they’re members of Altra Federal Credit Union (Altra).

In 1931, a group of 33 employees of the heating and air conditioning company Trane partnered to create Altra by pooling their combined $187 and placing it in a shoebox. Since then, the credit union has amassed more than $2.8 billion in assets. Altra serves more than 151,000 members and employs approximately 500 individuals.

The credit union has branches in multiple states, including Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. Its headquarters are in Onalaska, a city in western Wisconsin.

Altra serves members in 50 states and 40 countries. The credit union has grown organically through the years — it has never acquired or merged with another financial institution.

Altra’s commitment to financial education motivated the formation of The Altra Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to enhancing financial wellness opportunities in the communities Altra serves.

We spoke with Lori Horstman, Altra’s Vice President of Member Experience and Advocacy, to learn more about how the credit union helps its members improve their money management skills. Horstman said Altra’s financial education efforts aim to meet the needs of each of its members.

“We really focus on each member personally and try to hone in on what their needs specifically are,” Horstman said. “Another thing that is part of our mission is that we really want to place an emphasis on making our communities better. We do a lot of different events in the communities we operate in and make donations and sponsor a lot of different programs.”

Horstman has worked for Altra for nearly 20 years. She began her career with the credit union in its learning and development area. As she and her colleagues worked with local students, they learned that the students didn’t have the skill set to lead a financially healthy life.

To remedy the problem, Altra focuses a significant portion of its financial education efforts in local schools. Horstman said several schools in Wisconsin instruct students to study personal finance as a graduation requirement.

Altra employees visit local schools to discuss personal finance and host online simulations that teach students financial literacy. The credit union assigns students a project that tasks them with creating a banking product or program that they think would benefit Altra’s members.

The project allows students to apply the concepts and skills they’ve learned to create a practical financial solution.

“Some of the kids that come out of our classes tell us that the class was their first exposure to personal finance,” Horstman said. “With everything we’ve had happening in our economy over the last few years, parents don’t want to tell their children they can’t afford something because they’re living paycheck to paycheck. So we’re really focused on giving kids a great set of tools to learn life skills and hopefully not make the same mistakes that others have.”

Horstman said the students have made suggestions to Altra on how to manage its social media sites. The students have also suggested the credit union hold promotions that enable members to enter contests to win professional sporting events tickets.

Altra’s Best Life Community Awards provide annual financial grants to nonprofit organizations. The credit union invites nonprofits to share their stories, and the financial institution’s employees and members vote to determine which organization will receive Altra’s awards. 

In 2023, Altra granted a Best Life Community Award of $10,000 to an animal-assisted therapy organization in Tyler, Texas. Horstman said the credit union values involving its membership in the voting process because it allows them to see how they can impact their communities.

“We try to involve our members as much as possible,” Horstman said. “This is their credit union — they’re the owners. They should have a say in how we’re running these programs.”

Altra also offers financial education programs to youth outside of a school setting. The credit union’s educational seminars help teenagers learn about credit and understand how their credit scores can impact their financial goals.

“During the pandemic, we conducted virtual sessions so our members could learn from the privacy of their own homes,” Horstman said. “Finances can be such a taboo subject that we found out that it was actually better to do some seminars virtually than it was to do them in person because nobody wants to be seen walking into a session to learn about credit. They feel that people who see them will assume they have bad credit, but that may not be true.”

The experience of conducting virtual events during the pandemic motivated Altra to offer financial education seminars in multiple formats, allowing members to attend the sessions in which they feel most comfortable. 

Altra hosts a financial wellness podcast to teach members how to manage their money. Horstman said podcasts are popular with the credit union’s members because they don’t need to listen to the whole podcast in one sitting — they can tune in whenever they have a spare 10 or 15 minutes.

Altra’s podcasts cover various topics, including short-term financing options and alternative investment vehicles such as Bitcoin. The financial institution occasionally invites finance experts from outside the credit union to speak on its podcast and provide financial advice.

Altra employs 24 certified financial coaches who can help members open deposit and loan products. The coaches also initiate conversations with members to learn whether they’re struggling with their finances and recommend best practices to help them improve their financial fitness.

Altra’s coaches evaluate a member’s financial health to determine how best to serve them.

“Our coaches will sit down and have one-on-one discussions with members to really try to help them understand their current behaviors and what behaviors they might need to change a little bit,” Horstman said. “One of the things we try to do is an assessment before we really sit down and talk with them. We offer different resources to make sure members are getting the tools they need.”

Altra believes in supporting the communities it serves. The credit union encourages its employees to work eight hours each year at a nonprofit organization of their choosing.

Altra values academics, and its foundation provides scholarships to students in its communities. In 2023, the foundation awarded numerous scholarships to help students pursue further education. Horstman said Altra’s mission is to help its members live their best lives.

“In order to live your best life, you need to have the right tools, education, and resources at your fingertips,” Horstman said. “What you choose to do with those resources will impact your financial life and journey going forward. We help our members solidify how they define their financial dreams.”