Open your Special Savings (or become a member) at 3riversfcu.org/apply and start building your emergency savings today.

Today, CNNMoney posted an article about a recent Bankrate.com study that shows only 25% of Americans have enough saved to cover 6-months of expenses. But nearly half of us don’t even have enough saved to cover 3-months of expenses, which is up to 49% from 46% last year. Similarly, more people (28% from 24%) say they have NO savings cushion whatsoever than did a year ago.

Without such a cushion, what options do you have for car repairs, medical bills, upcoming back-to-school expenses and, well, anything out of the ordinary? There’s credit cards, personal loans, going without something, not paying other bills, etc. Or, you can take action today. Bankrate’s Greg McBride observed that:

“The biggest barrier to saving is not being in the habit of saving,” he said. “By establishing that habit, even if an unplanned expense comes up and wipes out what you’ve accumulated, you’re only one paycheck away from restarting the saving process.”

So, where do you begin?

How about starting with us? We have the tools and advocates to help you get something started easily. It could be as simple a special savings or holiday club account and then using Online Access to schedule a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly transfer of a few bucks or more into that account. It doesn’t matter how much. What does matter is getting started.

And best of all, all of it can be done online and on your own time (you can even become a member online!).

Or, if you prefer a more personal approach with the advice of our team, call or come in. We’re also happy to discuss our unique DriveUp Savings solution that pays you the same rate as your approved auto loan rate (up to 10%) if you have an auto loan that has a term of 36 months or more.