MI First Credit Union new youth banking app helps establish healthy financial habits earlier

Block by Block is a solutions journalism series that is supported by CEDAM, Invest Detroit and MI CDFI, and is focused on community development leaders and initiatives in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.

Financial habits often develop at a young age. Thinking about money can be stressful, and talking about money can be even more stressful. It’s a tricky conversation to have between parent and child, one that sometimes just doesn’t happen. To better equip kids and teens ages 6 to 17 with real-world financial experience, Michigan First Credit Union has launched a new youth banking mobile app. Designed for families, the Finley app provides safe banking for kids through built-in parental controls and age-appropriate weekly financial lessons. 

Michigan First Credit Union President and CEO Jennifer Borowy spoke about the not-for-profit, member-owned credit union.

“We are focused on people rather than profit,” she says. “That means we invest a lot in competitive financial products, personalized service and personalized guidance to serve members in their needs.”

Michigan First Credit Union is based in Detroit, but has branches all over the state including in Lansing and Grand Rapids. Since its beginning in 1926, the financial institution has grown to serve more than 160,000 members across 32 branch locations. Adapting to its community members’ needs has enabled this credit union to serve for a century. 

Their latest product launch, the Finley app, builds upon meeting that need and honoring the legacy of education — the credit union was started by nine teachers. The app went live in August, and since, the credit union has already opened up close to 300 Finley accounts.

“We really wanted to make sure that we were providing a pathway for the next generation of members to learn about financial education early on — so that they were prepared to have a better financial future,” Borowy says. 

Resources and financial literacy can also be costly, but this app remains free for members — an important and intentional move to keep it accessible for families.

Chanel Everett is the chief growth officer and leads initiatives that support memberships, deposits, and lending growth. She’s responsible for cross-collaboration internally with other teams and senior leaders, as well as external vendors and partners.

As MI First celebrates its centennial, Everett is proud to see membership pass down from generation to generation. 

“A lot of our older generation members introduce Michigan First Credit Union to their children, and grandchildren,” she says. 

There have even been new memberships that have come as a result of the app, says Everett. 

Younger generations are growing up in a time where it’s common to be in a cashless situation, often necessitating young kids and teens to have access to digital currency at their fingertips. 

“Parents are trying to figure out how to get their children access to cashless options, so a debit card can be really important for children,” Borowy says. “We want to make sure kids understand how it all works. That was the background of the financial education part — they learn what saving means, what interest is, what happens when they spend money, or what a transaction is.”

Some young people utilize digital wallets like Venmo or CashApp, but those are often a bit more risky to use, given that the money in them is typically not federally-insured. Borowy says Finley provides a safer setting where kids can have fun, but parents have control and can personalize the experience as well. 

The app was designed to be engaging and attractive to young people, by utilizing gamified learning where users can build their own avatar, earn badges, unlock achievements, complete lessons and level-up throughout the program. Parents can utilize the app to assign chores, and automate allowances. Kids can create specific goals to save for bikes, gaming systems, a college fund, or even their first car. 

“Children can learn how to do regular banking things so they’re developing the right habits to have confidence later in life handling their money management,” Borowy says. 

Borowy’s own children have been sort of beta testers for the new app, who have enjoyed learning financial habits. 

“From a user perspective as a parent, my daughters are very protective of their money and when they want to spend it, but they’re also attentive to their chores,” she says. “They have responsibilities and want to make sure they can get their allowance money. It gives us an opportunity to have age-appropriate conversations about money because of where they’re at with quizzes in the app.”

Everett admits she would also have loved to have the Finley app around when she was raising her children. Today, she is proud the organization provides it as a tool to help other members overcome the common financial education gap. 

“Finley is a great opportunity to increase the level of engagement with our existing Michigan First membership base,” Everett says. “They can be proud to be a part of a credit union that’s continuing to think about education and explore ways to help them and their households.”

Although the app encourages a convenient digital service that can be accessed anywhere there’s internet, it was important for Michigan First Credit Union to keep their focus on real-life, real-time customer service. 

“We wanted to ensure that our members were still getting a great service that they have come to realize with Michigan First,” Borowy says. “We have our 365 Live Contact Center team that we do not outsource. These are real live team members that any of our members can talk to around the clock. We never shut down for our members, because we want to ensure we can answer questions at any point in time for them.”

Listening to those customer needs and being involved in the community is an important pillar of Michigan First. They have student banking partnerships with local schools, mobile branches, random acts of kindness, and collaborating with other nonprofits to connect with the community. 

As the oldest active credit union in the state looks back over 100 years, Everett attributes part of that growth to the members. 

“Over the years, we’ve been able to grow and evolve because our members have been a big help — they’ve been heard. We’ve come up with different products, services and initiatives because our members share with us,” Everett says. “They have that relationship with us, we gather and hear a lot of their needs through these conversations. Because of that, they feel heard, which allows them to maintain their membership with us and continue to share with their family and friends what Michigan First can do for them.”