The articles below are sorted by subject. Older and outdated articles have been removed but are still available for reading via the index by date.
Cybercrime and Online Privacy Protection
- What they're up to - Summer 2018.
- Facebook and your right to privacy. March 2018. About the Cambridge Analytica scandal, open data, and your right to protect your information.
- What they're up to. March 2018. The latest in online, email, mail, and phone scams.
- Chronicle of a theft foretold. January 2018. Why in 2018 it's imperative that US consumers file their tax returns as early as possible.
- Have a safe trip! Tips on protecting belongings, your home and your money while you travel the holidays.
- The clues we leave.About using strong passwords, how to create them and how to remember them.
- Online money safety.
- What they're up to. November 2017. The latest in cybercrime and online scams.
- The Equifax data breach: an update. September 2017.
- What you need to know after the Equifax data breach. September 2017. We explain every way you can protect your personal data after the massive theft of data from Equifax.
- What they're up to. March 2017. The latest cybercrime trends and how they can affect you.
- Tax (Fraud) Time. Explaining the frauds that occur during tax time and what taxpayers can do to protect themselves, their data, and their money.
- What they're up to. October 2016. The latest online scams.
- Keep Your Eye on the Target. February 2014. Regarding Target's and Neimann Marcus's data thefts and how to protect yourself.
- Cyber-Securing Your Accounts. . An interview with María Antonieta Arraya, where she tells us about fraud trends and how to protect our accounts at the
- Online Security. About the security features of free email accounts, available antivirus software, and other online security considerations.
- Card Security - An Interview. An interview with Ruben Pereyra and Jose Pedro Ravel regarding credit and debit card security
Definitions in Personal Finance and Investment
- Short Sale.
- Real Estate Purchase and Lending Terms.
- What is a Share?
- What is a Step-Up Certificate?
- What are Bonds?
- A banking and finance glossary.
- Rates, Yields, And Compound Interest. An explanation of compound interest and annual percentage yields of dividends on deposit accounts.
- (Share) Secured Loans
Home Buying and Ownership
- 5 signs that you're ready to buy your first home.
- A Guide to Buying Your First Home, Part 1. A handy guide with all sorts of useful information for first-time homebuyers.
- A Guide to Buying Your First Home, Part 2. Second part of the same guide.
- Making that home loan a reality. We explain the factors that can derail your final mortgage approval so that you can avoid them.
- Before you buy a house. Explains what steps are good to take before applying for a mortgage to buy a home.
- The added value. On tax breaks for homeowners.
- Your winter guide to saving on energy. How to make small and affordable changes at home that can save you loads on your energy bills and help the planet.
- A Different Kind of Mortgage. An article on how Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) work and their advantages.
- 5 signs that you're ready to buy your first home.
- A Guide to Buying Your First Home, Part 1. A handy guide with all sorts of useful information for first-time homebuyers.
- A Guide to Buying Your First Home, Part 2. Second part of the same guide.
- Making that home loan a reality. We explain the factors that can derail your final mortgage approval so that you can avoid them.
- Before you buy a house. Explains what steps are good to take before applying for a mortgage to buy a home.
- The added value. On tax breaks for homeowners.
- Your winter guide to saving on energy. How to make small and affordable changes at home that can save you loads on your energy bills and help the planet.
- A Different Kind of Mortgage. An article on how Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) work and their advantages.
Family subjects
- Borrowing and lending with friends and family. April 2018.
- How to finance your kids education beyond the FAFSA. An explanation on FAFSA and how to apply for scholarships.
- Going back to school. We discuss various options to be able to pay for going back to study as an adult.
- The Account Holder, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover. About joint and individual accounts, payable on death beneficiary designations and other inheritance issues.
- Stuff Happens. About young parents and life insurance.
- Teens Today: A World Online, part 3. About over-sharing, sexting, and cyberbullying.
- Teens Today: A World Online, Part 2. On protecting our kids from online sexual predators.
- Teens Today: A World Online. Part 1. About the wonders of growing up int he technological era.
- Teens and Money: Savings, Part 1. Teaching teens to save money in everyday life.
- Teens and Money: Savings, Part 2. Teaching teens to save money in everyday life.
- Kids and Money: The Allowance. How to teach your children the value of money and earning it, using their allowance.
- Back to School. A practical guide to save on back to school needs.Updated yearly.
- Let's Ask Grandpa and Grandma. Information on saving for future college expenses, aimed at grandparents interested in helping.
- Elder Financial Abuse, Part 3. Stuff that happens.
- Elder Financial Abuse, Part 2. Self-help and Practical Advice.
- Elder Financial Abuse, part 1. About detection and assistance.
- Feeling at home (Family matters, part 3). This article explains the different housing options for seniors, with and without personal/medical care.
- Family matters, part 2. The legal considerations of assuming charge of one's aging parents' financial matters.
- Family matters, part 1. May 2017. The medical considerations of taking care of one's aging parents.
- The Financial and Legal Quirks of Domestic Partners. An article providing useful legal and financial advice to domestic partnership couples that do not intend to marry int he near future.
- The Financial and Legal Pecularities of Life After Marriage. . Some of the legal and financial consequences of marriage, and practical advice on handling finances as a household.
- Surviving the expense of family vacations.
- Traveling Single.
- Volunteer vacations, a different kind of experience.
The New Economies
- The sharing economy. Where we clarify which companies really are, and are not, part of the sharing economy.
- The circular economy. What the sharing economy is, and how it helps governments, society, and even the planet.
- The gig economy. This article explains what the gig economy is, and what its long-term effects are for a nation's economy.
Member Information and Education Series
- Eight money matters everyone should grasp by age 30. June 2018.
- Your account's health checkup. Or. how to catch up with your account in half an hour.
- The trick to saving with your student loan payments.
- Valuable information. About the usefulness of safety deposit boxes.
- A hard truth. This article explains why the credit union has raised some of its. fees.
- How to deposit a check.
- Hard January. How to get through the hardest month of the year without taking out a loan.
- Pernicious geometry. We explain today's pyramid schemes, disguised as job offers.
- Skip-a-Pay explained.
- Time to Save:Holiday Club accounts.
- Debit or Credit. Explains the benefits of using debit or credit cards to pay different kinds of purchases.
- A Matter of Interest. On the difference between interest and dividends.
- Time to stop wasting money. About debt consolidation and balance transfers.
- Wire Transfers and Electronic Payments. The difference between wire transfers and electronic payments (also known as ACH, EFTs, and direct debits and deposits).
Credit Reports, Budgeting and Saving
- It's possible to save while in college (and here's how). August 2018.
- When there's a mistake on your credit report.
- Nine myths about credit reports.
- 6 things to do in winter to save you money the whole year.
- The 12 tips of Christmas saving. Tips to help stretch your funds, or save to get through the holidays.
- How to Save on a Budgeted Life. How to save more money re-examining your budget and spending habits.
- Your Credit History, Part I. Updated regularly. What is a credit report, how they are created, how to request yours.
- Your Credit History, Part II. Updated regularly. An in-depth look at establishing a good credit history from scratch, for young borrowers or people new to the United States.
- Your Credit History, Part III. Updated regularly. Specific information to improve one's credit report; for those establishing credit, and those who seek to improve their report.
- Personal Budgeting Part I. Getting Started. An introduction to making your own personal budget exercise. A to-do list before you start.
- Personal Budgeting Part II: Making your personal budget. A step-by-step guide to creating your own monthly budget of income and expenses. It includes an Excel worksheet to enter your income and expenses to make a personalized budget, and step-by-step instructions. The worksheet provides you a breakdown of expenses by category and percentages, as well as key ratios that are important for consumers. The budget report analysis is explained in-depth to give you a full understanding of your budget results.
- The Paradise Papers. November 2017.
- Everything you always wanted to know about Bitcoin. January 2017.
- The thing about the Panama Papers. April 2016.
- A Look at Brexit, part 1. Why? March 2016
- A Look at Brexit, part 2. If it happens. March 2016
- A Little Smog. September 2015. About the Volkswagen diesel cars scandal.
- China’s Black Monday and the Ripple Effect,Explained. September 2015. How the crisis in the Shanghai Stock Market sent the world
economies into chaos last month.
- When the Unthinkable Happens. July 2015. About Greece, the Crisis and the European Union.
- The Price of s Football. June 2015. About the FIFA scandal.
- Europe's Negative Interest Rates. May 2015. Why some European Central Banks offer negative interest rates on deposits.
- Will the Fed raise the interest rates? March 2015. About the possible future raise of interest rates by the Fed, and what that means for consumers, the government, and the economy.
- Central Banks, Monetary Policy, and the BCE's Announced Quantitative Easing. January 2015. An explanation of the announced Quantitative Easing with some helpful definitions of key economics terms.
- The Dropping Oil Price From the Consumers's Point of View. January 2015. About the extra savings that we're experiencing from the dropping price of petroleum.
- The Art Museum of the Americas (and Friends). July 2018.
- A cultural approach: GALA Hispanic Theatre. June 2018.
- 14 things you can do on World Kindness Day.
- Good deeds on a continental scale: the PADF. About this NGO member of OAS FCU and the amazing work they perform throughout the hemisphere.
- Helping Houston. How you can help the victims of the Houston flooding without getting scammed in the process.
- What it takes. An insight into OAS FCU's various volunteer roles, with an invitation to members to help.
- Cooperatives around the world: REI. Fair Trade.
- An almost Sacred Duty. About Sacred Valley Project in Peru.
- A Shared Utopia. About a very special cooperative.
- Cooperation around the world: Global Mamas.
- The measure of success.
- The meaning of it all.
- Empowerment. About the Credit Union Difference, credit union history, and them importance of the volunteers that help their Credit Unions.
- The Ins and Outs of a Credit Union.How credit unions came to be, how they function, and who runs them.
- Selected Elected. How the elections to the Board of Directors and Credit Committee are conducted.
- The Annual Meeting. An insider look at the Credit Union's Annual Credit Union.Meeting.
- Cooperatives Around The World. Juan Valdez. An Article about the cooperative behind the Juan Valdez Café and brand.
- Challenging your Resolutions.
Subjects for a Better Life
- 14 money-saving tips for this fall. October 2018.
- Breathe Life. May 2018. About the global initiative to improve the air we breathe.
- Work zen: spring cleaning your office.
- Bob voyage, luggage fees! Teaches you how to save on regular and extra luggage fees when flying.
- Cleaning Day Market.
- Black Friday Survival Guide. A practical with advise for the brave souls going shopping the day after Thanksgiving.
- Earth Day. About observing Earth Day in various ways.
- Make Your Holidays Greener. Suggestions to make your Christmas presents have less negative impact on the environment.
- A Greener Christmas, the 2016 edition.
- A Way To Give A Little More. End of year message from the writer, and how to donate a portion of our shopping to charity using Amazon Smile.
- Spring Cleaning! What spring cleaning is and how to perform one.
- Christmas around the world:
- Lucy in Chile, then and now
- Meet OAS FCU's new logo. September 2018.
- OAS FCU's Conversion, part 1: the accounts. August 2018.
- A very special and specialized presentation. April 2018. About the presentation on serving members (and interacting in life) with people with various types of disabilities.
- A bon voyage message. August 2017. A warm farewell message to our coworker and friend Raquel Rovira, who is retiring.
- A special day. July 2017.
- And then there were two. February 2017. OAS FCU receives an award from CUMA for the second year running.
- A unique experience. September 2016.
- K.C. Soares wins NAFCU Volunteer of the Year Award. June 2016.
- Carlos Calderon Visits Colombia with MDDCCUA and WOCCU. November 2014. About Mr. Calderon's visit with a delegation of MDDCCUA of WOCCU to the Colombian government, Fecolfin and Comultrasan in October 2014.
- Cuban Delegation Visits the Credit Union. May 2015. About the visit of a Cuban Cooperative delegation to OAS FCU.
