FREE Financial Wellness Counseling
The term financial counseling sometimes makes people nervous. Nobody wants to be judged for their choices – especially when it comes to money. You need someone who can relate to what you are going through. You want someone willing to teach you and treat you with compassion.
Our Financial wellness counselors are RelyOn employees you may already know. They work in our branches with members like you every day. They work with you, one-on-one, to help you with things like:
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Building your budget
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Getting you out of debt
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Establishing or repairing your credit
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Saving money for emergencies
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Setting money goals
Think of them like a tour guide for your financial journey. Free to use and of course, free from judgement. So don’t be shy. They’re financial experts; more importantly, they’re real people…just like you. Read more about them below.
Meet Russell
Russel has worked at RelyOn so long that’s it’s almost easier to list the jobs he hasn’t done. He’s been everything from a loan office to an assistant vice president. Russell’s experience is one of the reasons he’s such a great financial wellness counselor. He knows every solution we have, and he knows which ones benefit your current money situation or goals.
Russel is passionate about helping our members with financial wellness – especially our younger members. “How to manage credit isn’t taught in schools, and so many parents don’t know, either,” he said. Kids are graduating high school and college without a clue on how to use credit or manage debt. I’m excited about helping our young members learn these things.”
He’s also a pretty fun guy. “I’m a classic rock guy and I play a mean air guitar. Unfortunately, I can no longer fit into my leather pants from back in the day,” he said.
One thing that makes Russell such an effective financial wellness counselor is understanding how finances impact relationships. He’s been married to his wife more than 40 years.
Meet Wendy
If you’ve been to our Forney branch, you may recognize Wendy. Outstanding member service is kind of her thing. She has worked as a teller, a loan officer and a service banker. She has also managed our Service Center.
It’s no surprise that she is passionate about helping our members and people in our communities improve their financial situation.
“I know helping others achieve their goals makes for a happy place,” she said. “Sitting down and walking people through things they think are difficult to understand, and simplifying those things for someone is very rewarding. I want to help them see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
If you want to know what Wendy is like as a financial wellness counselor, just see how she treats animals. “I live on three acres over filled with animals. They bring me joy like nothing else in this world,” she said.
The other loves of her life are her husband of more than 20 years, her two sons and her three grandsons.
Meet Bopa
Meet Bopa. She used to be one of our video bankers. She’s also worked as a Contact Center supervisor and area manager here at RelyOn. Bopa is another employee who finds joy in helping others.
“I love helping members find ways to save money for personal needs and large purchases,” she said. “I enjoy spending time breaking down the financial world lingo on their personal accounts so they can better manage their money.”
Bopa also has mad photography skills (like – really mad skills), and she’s not picky about what you call her.
“My full name is four syllables and people have a hard time pronouncing it: SO-CHE-BO-PA,” she said. “I go by the last four letters of my name - BOPA, but people still hear it differently. I’ve been called Boba, Mocha, Oprah and even Barbara. One of my long-time members still calls me Mocha to this day, and I am ok with it.”
Bopa speaks English and Khmer (a Cambodian language).
Meet Doris
You may already have met Doris in one of our branches. She works at both our Forney branch and our Kaufman branch as a manager. Doris works with members every day and is excited about any opportunity she has to help you improve your financial situation.
“Bad things often happen to good people, and when it does, sometimes they don’t know how to get back on their feet,” she said. “As a financial counselor at RelyOn, I come in contact with members from all walks of life. It excites me to live out my passion by helping others. I have been in a place of difficult times, and I can relate to what they are going through.”
Just don’t look at her clothes when you meet with her. Doris actually has adorable fashion sense, but her family calls her “backwards,” because she often wears her shirts backwards without realizing it until her coworkers tells her.
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