There are a LOT of people we'll need to notify once baby Ryan is born and we've found a great way to do it.
Steve and I were recently contacted by a company called "Baby’s First Phone Call” and we’re going to try it out. Basically, once the baby is born we call an 800 number and record a personalized message (“Baby Ryan was born at so-and-so time, weighing blah blah blah… hip hip hooray!”) and then Baby’s First Phone Call will send that message out to a ton of phone numbers we entered on their website ahead of time.
Of course there will be some people we’ll call for real, but we can’t possibly call everyone. Some people we may not get to talk to for a few days. So we think this is a great way – and still personal! – to get the word out. Much better you hear it from our own voices than from facebook or twitter, right?!
PLUS.. after hearing our message, it’ll give you the option to leave US a return message, how cool is that?! Pretty exciting to me (which means you better leave us a return message! haha)
We’re working on entering all the names and phone numbers right now, so if you want to be on the list to receive our Baby’s First Phone Call message, let us know!!! Make sure we have your phone number too 
It’s getting close! 
((Sometime after birth we’ll post a review on this service to let you know how it worked in case anyone is interested in using it!))
Smaller Classes: CU Share Of GSL Market Is Shrinking.
Credit Union Journal May 7, 2001 | Roberts, Ed Credit unions continued to see their share of the guaranteed student loan market whittled away over the past five years, even as the total volume of loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program soared 30% during that period to an all-time high of $25.7 billion last year.
During that period the credit union share of the total volume of guaranteed student loans made fell each year, from a high of 4% in 1996 to just 3.2% last year, according to data provided to The Credit Union Journal by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). During that period the number of credit unions participating in the program also declined by 112 to 1,644. go to web site great lakes higher education
John Garey, product manager of CUNA Mutual Group’s student loan program, noted that despite the lower number of credit unions participating in the program, it amounts to a similar portion of the entire credit union community, when taking into consideration credit union attrition during that time.
But DOE figures also show that a total of 1,068 financial institutions, mostly banks and thrifts, have pulled out of the program over the past five years too, as the market for student loans becomes increasingly dominated by a handful of large players. “There’s a lot of lenders pulling out of the student loan business, simply because they find it is not commercially viable,” said Richard George, president of Great Lakes Higher Education, a Madison, Wis., firm that provides servicing and other back-office services for CMG’s student loan program serving more than 1,000 credit unions. “The concentration in the program is clearly growing, and it grows from year to year.” 100 Lenders Make 70% Of Loans As a result, 100 lenders now make up almost 70% of the market for guaranteed student loans. And one, traditional secondary market facilitator Sallie Mae, projects to provide as much as half of the non-federal government direct loans during this year-about $12 billion worth of student loan originations. website great lakes higher education
Even with a smaller number of credit unions participating in the guaranteed loan program, the amount of student loans originated over the past five years has grown by 8% to $833 million.
Still, that amounts to a tiny portion of the credit union loan portfolio, less than 1%.
Roberts, Ed
There are a LOT of people we'll need to notify once baby Ryan is born and we've found a great way to do it.
Awww…if I were not such a private person with my info I would def do this. I will just look really forward to your tweets and posts
{{hugs}} you are in my thoughts!!
[Reply]
AHHH! I want this!
[Reply]