I was selected for participation in this sponsored campaign as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.
What’s interesting in the banking business is how some banks have turned to the web to get more business. It could be the apps or new ways to make deposits but Wells Fargo has changed the game a bit by targeting a different segment/sector of the population via Wells Fargo Community blogs, forums and targeting families with college age kids. The most interesting part was seeing the integration of the Clever Girls bloggers dive into the Wells Fargo Community and really become part of the “family”. This isn’t just a superficial website. There are many thoughtful things going on if you dig around a bit– which I did behind the scenes. (I am very good at being invisible when I need or want to be)
First things first– don’t miss the Wells Fargo bloggers. There’s a topic for everyone and there’s one just for handling student loans. I love how accessible each blogger is and they are very knowledgeable about their segments:
Financial Insights and Questions (Jean Chatzky)
Wells Fargo Environmental Forum (Pia Hahn)
(who said a bank wouldn’t be interested in going environmentally green?)
AdvantageVoiceSM (Jeremy Ryan)
Guided By History (Charles Riggs) (the story behind Wells Fargo & banking)
The Student LoanDown (Maurice)
A blog about financing college and managing debt
This last blog from the Wells Fargo bloggers really got my attention because it’s where most families are at–seeking the scoop on college costs: how to save and finance college educations particularly in light of rapid -and repeated-fee increases at all levels of colleges & universities here in California)
The great thing about the Wells Fargo Community is that it’s not just Wells Fargo people talking to us the bloggers or us the consumers. The forums are a key “hang-out” to ask questions; have discussions on key topics; and nail down problems with the site and/or the online banking functionality. There is no topic too sacred to be addressed.
I like that about Wells Fargo– they get some tough questions but they don’t avoid the questions and the perhaps incomplete answers until they finally nail down exactly what it is that people want to know. If there is a glitch, they find it, and roll up their sleeves to fix it.
When it comes to student loans– and we aren’t just talking high school age here– there are many people out there seeking to improve their education to maintain and/or improve their skills to keep their jobs or move up that job ladder.
I like how the forums function and it’s ok to ask the “hard” questions. No one is treated in a cookie cutter fashion. I felt comfortable there. Links to facebook.com twitter and the blogs were in the right sidebar so that you could immediately engage online with those in your personal networks to tel them what you had learned or see if it was the right answer. Wells Fargo even has a youtube.com series of channels. (Who knew?)
But the best part for me were the calculators as well as the specific Wells Fargo blogs that were keyed on specific topics. Not a company to avoid the nitty gritty, Wells Fargo has bloggers who really tackle the hard topics like Dana who wrote informatively about Repayment Tips for Student Loan Borrowers. I remember exiting college and suddenly realizing that all the money I had stashed and was earning at my job was not going to be for trips or clothing! I had loan payments to make on student loans. Dana has a great chart that shows you some numbers and a scheduling system to get ready to start making those payments on a regular basis.
Impressed yet? I certainly was.
What would I like to learn more about and/or see on this site?
I would like to see more about advanced (read graduate) education and the adults returning to school and how to finance an education while someone is going to work, school and probably managing some sort of family or relationship.
Kudos to Wells Fargo for being willing to open the doors, drawers, closets and even let us Clever bloggers discover the dust bunnies that are inherent in a financial social media/forum system that is online and you can’t ask really personal stuff easily in that milieu.
For more information about the Wells Fargo Community, please visit Wells Fargo Community’s site. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own. #WFCommunity #spon
Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com
