Alex Sukopp, Royal Credit Union branch supervisor.

Most decisions would be easier if you could have the best of both worlds. Food that tastes great and is healthy for you; a job you love that pays well; saving money while spending it. The latter sounds fictional – but with Royal Credit Union, it’s a reality.

Simply put, Royal Credit Union’s new Save & Spend Duo account gives Members the best of both worlds: a checking account and savings account that work together to create automatic savings with every purchase.

We connected with Alex Sukopp, Royal Credit Union branch supervisor, to give us the rundown on how to save some coin while you spend some with the Save & Spend Duo.

How does the Save & Spend Duo work?

The Save & Spend Duo is a checking and savings account that are paired together. With the checking account, every time you swipe your debit card, it rounds that transaction up to the next dollar. At the end of the day, it takes that rounded up amount and puts it into savings.

What benefits do you see in having this account?

I think the biggest benefit for me is that it basically forces you to save – it does the savings for you. So it’s like your change jar. At the end of the day, you put your change in the jar. This does that part for you. And in this case, the jar even earns dividends because it’s a high-yield savings account.

Why did you decide to open this account?

I don’t need to think about it – I don’t need to set up a repeating transfer to save, I don’t need to do any math or anything like that. It just does the saving automatically behind the scenes, which is really cool. And the savings account offers a really competitive rate, so it earns more dividends that way too!

Have you noticed any changes to your money habits as a result of opening the Save & Spend Duo?

Yes! We’ve started to call the savings account our rainy day fund. So every time we do a transaction with the checking account for anything, it squirrels a little bit of that away for the fun stuff. Having an account like this that helps me save for the fun things I want to do has been outstanding.

Who can benefit from the Save & Spend Duo?

I’ve actually told a few people about this account even outside of work here at Royal. Between the dividends, roundup feature, and mindset of savings, it’s kind of a no-brainer for anyone who wants to save money but maybe doesn’t have an easy time of remembering to do it. Maybe someone feels like they aren’t as good at budgeting, and then this account offers a good first step toward changing that mindset.

What kind of reactions do Royal Members have when you tell them about this option?

Members that I work with think this is really, really cool. This is a really nice product for someone that uses their debit card often and wants that savings boost. I’ve helped a lot of people make the switch to Royal just to get this account because they recognize that it will be such a positive change.

There are also sometimes people who have their savings in a time-based account like a certificate or CD where it’s locked up for a set period of time – that can sometimes be uncomfortable for people who need that flexibility to access their money any time. Here again the Save & Spend account can help because it’s not locked up like that.

How can someone open a Save & Spend Duo account?

If any of this sounds interesting, I’d suggest that they stop in to a Royal office to chat with a team member about it and give it a try. A Royal team member can walk you through the benefits and see if it’s a good fit. You can also open your account online!

Insured by NCUA.

Royal Credit Union

26 office locations in Wisconsin and Minnesota

(800) 341-9911

www.rcu.org/savespend

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