Car sale $500 gas card winner

For years now, Julie M. has dreamed of owning a Ford Mustang.

“It’s what I’ve always wanted,” she says.

Finally, at our most recent fall used vehicle sale, she found one. Julie also won $500 worth of gas cards to feed the speedster.

Julie works at Sheridan Books in Chelsea, and says the gas cards should last her at least three months (“Unless I drive a lot,” she says).

Congratulations, Julie – both on getting your dream car and winning our $500 gas card drawing!

The famous American 1 Cash Vault.

Members love our cash machine.

As you can see from the video, our Cash Vault is a huge hit wherever we take it. We’ve offered it to new member sign-ups, non-profit charity events, our Kids’ Fest events (we put fake money in it then), and – of course – our used vehicle sales.

At our most recent sale, members had the chance to grab for $100 in cash when they stepped inside the Cash Vault. Look for it at our vehicle sale next spring!

Be sure to check out photos from both car sale weekends at our Flickr page.

Need cash? Hold a yard sale.

A pocketful of cash, a clutter-free home, and a lot of interaction between your stuff and passers-by all make yard sales hard to resist.

Who can argue with that? The Unclutterer blog has a whole breakdown of handy tips and tactics to make your yard or garage sale successful.

Yard sales are a great way to clear out your stuff and earn some extra money. Now that summer is almost done, a yard sale could be a way to raise some cash for Christmas or holiday shopping, too.

And let’s face it: most of us have way too much…stuff. The best prescription for clutter is a well-placed “Free!” box in the driveway.

Have any yard sale tips to share?

Meet our $1,000 gas card winner

Meet Ricky R., American 1’s $1,000 gas card winner from this past weekend’s car sale.

Ricky financed a 1997 Ford Econoline van at the sale, earning him an automatic $100 gas card. But $1,000 worth of gas cards on top of that? “That’s cool,” Ricky, a Jackson member since 1995, says.

Ricky was looking to get a new vehicle at the sale after he heard about it from our Home Office staff.

How long will $1,000 worth of gas last him?

“The way I drive?” Ricky says. “About a month.”

Congratulations Ricky!

Thanks+

After our recent car sale and the advertising we put around it, you’ve probably noticed we’ve been tooting our own horn a bit. Modesty and humbleness have their place, and more businesses should try practicing it, but our point is to let you know – in spite of everything going on in our area – your credit union is doing just fine.

You may have seen the numbers in the ad: 8,000 new members last year, 1,800 new members so far this year, 9,000 people attending our free community events, $1.6 million dollars saved in ATM fees. These are big numbers.

Plus $1 million in auto loans at our spring sale, which means $1 million that will help local businesses (like the dealerships) and that, as Bruce over at The Car Company said, will be “reinvested in the local economy.”

The Car Company is a good example, because they sold almost 30 vehicles on Friday and Saturday. Ask any other dealer in town whether they can pull off those numbers over a weekend.

Historically, credit unions have helped out their communities when the community needs them the most. This is that time, and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.

So thanks. Thanks for being a member, thanks for making our sales such a big hit, and thanks for helping us help out Jackson and Hillsdale and Battle Creek and Chelsea and all the other communities we call home.