Three generations of the Castro family are Sunward members. In 1986, Gonzalo Castro was first to join after landing his dream job at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California. Over the next 40 years, Sunward became an integral part of the Castro household, as Gonzalo’s children, their spouses and children, and their extended family became members, too. The Castro’s are so close with Sunward’s Livermore branch staff that they knew about the arrival of a new Castro baby before other members of the family did!
For Liz Castro, her connection with Sunward became the silver lining of a less-than-ideal situation. “The Credit Union saved my life,” she recalls. “Before my wedding in 2011, my stepdad told me I needed to remove him from the car loan he had co-signed. I was not in the financial situation to make payments on my own, and I had no idea what to do. My soon-to-be father-in-law, Gonzalo, told me to call the Credit Union. This surprised me because I didn’t know what they could do to help me.” Liz made a quick phone call to Sunward, and two days later, she had a used car loan in her name – financed in a way so she could make payments on her own. Since then, Liz enjoys – and even looks forward – to calling the Credit Union for advice.
Liz and her husband Eric have both had the opportunity to bank elsewhere through their employers, but neither one has considered moving their money from Sunward. “We don’t get the run-around at the Credit Union and I know that I will talk to a real person when I call. There’s no judgment – they always just ask, “What do you need? Let’s figure this out together.”
Now, with a family of their own, Liz and Eric say they are confident about how to handle financial issues that may come their way. Even more importantly, they know they belong to a financial institution that has their best interests in mind. “I feel special: I live here, I work here, my credit union is here, everything I do is in Livermore. I honestly wouldn’t have had any of these opportunities had I not met my husband. And his family wouldn’t have had these opportunities had their dad not worked at the lab,” say Liz.
