What it says
Here is what a HELOC is, here is how one generally works, here are the terms you will see on the paperwork, here is what this institution has approved you to know about theirs.
THE GAP
A checking account is easy. The rest of it is not.
Every one of these is a product a customer signs for and a term they will not be able to define a week later.
- APR vs APY
- Credit utilisation
- Mortgage points
- Fixed vs adjustable
- HELOCs
- 401(k)
- Roth vs traditional
- CDs
- Overdraft
- Business credit
- Compound interest
- Amortisation
TODAY
Disclosure → signature → “I have read and understood”
Technically information was provided, nobody learned anything.
WITH THIS
Explain → example → listen → check understanding → questions to ask you
And a record of what was presented and answered.
ONE · PRODUCT EDUCATION
Teach me HELOCs.
A customer considering a product scans or clicks and gets about a minute on what it is, how it generally works, the terminology they will encounter, and the information your institution has approved for that product. Then two questions, and a list of things worth asking you.
What it never says
You should get this, this is right for you, this is better than that. It does not recommend, rank, compare institutions or produce a number — it sends them back to a person to decide.
Education, not advice. That line is drawn in the product, not in a footnote.
TWO · FINANCIAL LITERACY
Free for every customer. Sponsored by you.
Credit, saving, budgeting, debt, investing basics, buying a home, retirement basics, fraud awareness — gamified, multilingual and tracked, so the institution can show what was delivered rather than only what was offered.
Most institutions advertise financial wellness. This is the part where you actually provide it.
- Kids
- Teens
- Young adults
- Families
- Small-business owners
- Older adults
Same engine. Different payload. A fourteen-year-old and a sixty-year-old learning about credit are not the same lesson, and they should not be.
THE SAME ENGINE, EVERY TIME
Explained, then actually learned.
Lessons
About a minute on one product or one concept, in plain language, from your approved material.
Audio
Listen to it instead of reading a disclosure on a phone screen.
Games
Compound interest lands differently when someone plays it rather than reads it.
Drills and flashcards
Terminology practiced until the words on the paperwork are familiar.
Knowledge checks
Two questions confirm it landed, on a record you can produce.
Three languages, read aloud
English, Spanish and Haitian Creole are live today, with more in build. Delivered in the language the customer speaks at home.
TRY THE ENGINE
One term, all the way through.
EXAMPLE CONTENT · This lesson was built to show the engine. A licensee's own approved content would replace it. The engine reads lessons aloud in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole; this example is in English.
Escrow account
What it is
An escrow account is an account your mortgage servicer holds alongside your loan. Part of each monthly payment goes into it, and the servicer uses that money to pay your property taxes and your homeowners insurance when those bills come due. The loan payment and the escrow portion arrive together, which is why one monthly figure covers more than principal and interest.
Why it matters
Property taxes and insurance premiums change from year to year, so the servicer reviews the account once a year and recalculates what needs to go in each month. That is why a monthly payment can change on a loan with a fixed interest rate: the interest rate did not move, the escrow portion did. The annual escrow statement your servicer sends shows the figures that review used.
QUESTION 1 OF 2
What does a mortgage servicer use an escrow account to pay?
ANSWER
The explanation appears here after you choose.
QUESTION 2 OF 2
Why can a monthly payment change on a loan with a fixed interest rate?
ANSWER
The explanation appears here after you choose.
THAT'S IT
You know what an escrow account holds, who pays out of it, and why the monthly total can change while the interest rate stays the same.
OPTIONAL · UNDER TWO MINUTES
Want to go over it once more?
Put four statements in order by sequence.
OPTIONAL · UNDER TWO MINUTES
Want to go over it once more?
Put the four steps of the escrow year in order.
- Once a year the servicer reviews the account against the new bills.
- Part of each monthly payment goes into the escrow account.
- The escrow portion of the monthly payment is recalculated.
- The servicer pays the tax and insurance bills when they come due.
On education and advice. Every lesson is generated only from information the institution supplies or approves, and is reviewed before publication. It explains a term and repeats what the institution has already put in writing, then hands the decision back to a person. It is not financial, investment, tax or legal advice, it does not recommend, rank or compare products or institutions, and it does not replace any disclosure, agreement or document an institution is required to deliver. No representation is made that this platform, on its own, satisfies any legal, regulatory or supervisory requirement; each institution determines what qualifies for its own obligations.
THE ASK
Send us one product disclosure. We will send back the lesson.
Pick the product your people explain most often and enjoy least. We will build it, in English and Spanish, and you can decide from there.
SEE IT ON ONE OF YOUR PRODUCTS