Mr. Jerry shares his ECU auto loan experience
Above all else, Education Credit Union values our members. When we hear we’ve made a positive impact on a member’s life, it warms our heart! Meet Jerry. Jerry first became a member with ECU nearly 32 years ago, after returning home from active duty in Germany to become a recruiter in Amarillo.
“I have met oodles and gobs of good people at ECU.” Jerry said. “Everyone I’ve met has made me feel like a person, and not a number on a spreadsheet. In fact, I moved my mother from Arkansas here to Amarillo when she was ready for assisted living. She still wanted to take care of her affairs, so I introduced her to ECU. I did the same for my brother, too.”
As a bit of a collector, Jerry was thrilled to find a signed Ford Mustang available for sale in the Dallas area a few months ago. After making the decision to purchase the vehicle, Jerry turned to ECU for a loan.
“It started with Bri, she’s been my go-to teller for a long time, and I was so, so happy when I heard that she was going to start doing member services. I can call her on the phone, ask her for help, and she always has time to talk,” Jerry said. “I told her I wanted to put a huge down payment on the car, then take a little chunk and stretch it out over 36 months or 48 months. So, she put me in touch with Hunter.”
There were several details involved in financing the vehicle, and Mr. Jerry admitted it was a bit complicated. Hunter, our Assistant Branch Manager for the Bushland branch, helped him through the buying process.
“I hadn’t ever purchased a car online,” Jerry said. “I’m old-school. I was looking to Hunter for guidance, and he reassured me he would make sure they did what they were supposed to. So, I just turned it over to him, laid it at his feet. It took Hunter and my salesman in Dallas about two weeks with me bickering, but he got it taken care of. He impressed me.”
Jerry was kind enough to show us his purchase during a recent visit to the Hillside branch. He made sure to mention that in 2008, when the vehicle was in production, only 20,000 of them were made nationwide. As of today, less than half of those 20,000 are still on the road.
“That is a specialty car, not just a Mustang. If you looked inside, you would have seen where Mr. Carroll Shelby signed the dashboard. He doesn’t put his name on anything that doesn’t meet his standards.” Mr. Jerry laughed, “I want to be sure to mention I did this with the support of my wife. She said ‘You’ve always wanted one of those, let’s just do it before you get any older.’” And since we’ve got the car, she enjoys it too.”
When asked why he loves ECU, Mr. Jerry had this to say: “I have three families. I have my own family. Of course, I’m a grandfather, I have grandchildren. I have my military family. You know, I spent two deployments in Vietnam, spent a deployment in Korea. My youngest daughter, I didn’t get to hold her until she was almost 2 years old. And then, I consider ECU my family. If all the branches treat their customers like you treat me, there’s no reason you can’t just grow and grow and grow.”
We are so honored to be a part of Mr. Jerry’s life and financial journey. We’re also incredibly thankful he has such wonderful things to say about our products, services, and team members.
