Families Transform Their Finances in ‘U-Turn Challenge’

First Tech Credit Union is about to announce which households will be participating in its U-Turn Challenge. In this social media contest, ten finalists will document their financial successes and challenges using blogs hosted at the credit union’s microsite.

Selected households will compete for a $10,000 grand prize. The prize goes to the household that achieves the most financial success in four pre-determined categories:

1. Debt reduction
2. Savings increase
3. Overall net worth increase
4. Overall level of participation in the program

So far the credit union has received over 100 entries. They’ll be announcing the ten finalists by early February.

The U-Turn Challenge will run throughout 2009.

All participating households will be assigned a team of financial experts from First Tech who will help them get on the road to a better financial life — and potentially win the competition. Each team will focus on a broad range of financial topics, ranging from budgeting, managing credit, home buying, paying for college, planning for retirement, insuring for the future and others.

It does not look like First Tech is promoting the U-Turn Challenge anywhere on its homepage. The credit union did launch a Twitter account to support the effort however.

A selection committee comprised of First Tech staff considered the following factors when selecting the ten participating families:

• Source and stability of income
• Type of debt
• Debt-to-income ratio
• Disposable income
• Credit review
• Background check
• Composition of household

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