CailinA credit union employee trained through the Financial Counseling Certification Program (FiCEP) can add to the overall engagement and satisfaction of members.
“The FiCEP program is truly helping credit union professionals reach their members and to improve their members’ financial futures,” said Juli Lewis, director of the Southeastern Credit Union Foundation (SECUF).
FiCEP, a program born of a collaboration between SECUF, the League of Southeastern Credit Unions (LSCU) and the Louisiana Credit Union League, offers financial counseling training for credit union staff to earn their Certified Credit Union Financial Counselor designation. The course combines in-person group training, webinars and study guides to help participants become confident in financial coaching within their credit union setting.
“By the end of the courses and exams, credit union employees feel enabled to better reach out to members who may be struggling,” said Bobbi Gray, foundation development coordinator for the Southeastern Credit Union Foundation. “Imagine the value in tellers or loan and collection specialists who can actively help members when they’re experiencing problems with budgeting or paying their loans on time.”
In fact, Bobbi said she’s so convinced of FiCEP’s importance that she’s scheduled to begin the program this year herself.
“As somebody who comes from a non-credit union background, I thought this might help me gain a deeper understanding of the credit union world,” Bobbi said. “But I’m also excited to be able to answer questions from people when I’m out in the field in a more educated way.”
Registration for FiCEP is currently open and registration is $650 per person. Credit unions with SAS funds may apply them to this cost and scholarship opportunities are also available.
“Our Spring session for Certified Credit Union Financial Counselor training starts in late February,” Juli said. “We will have a Spring as well as a Fall FiCEP session and a re-certification track. All three tracks include recorded webinars, helpful study guides, study sessions and a participant portal to house all of the information in one place. If you have the CUNA training bundle, you can still sign up to take part in our webinars and study sessions for a very minimal fee.”
