Preferred Rate Credit Card As an AFM member, you are eligible for an exclusive offer for the AFM MasterCard with no annual fee and a low interest rate on purchases. It can also save you money because its rate has averaged at least 2 percentage points below the average of the nine largest credit card banks in the country. This is the only credit card good enough to earn the endorsement of the AFL-CIO and the AFM, and it has a special AFM design. Besides being a union-endorsed credit card that saves you money over other cards, this credit card has a lot of great member-only features. Skip payment Privilege enables you to skip two monthly payments each year -- especially helpful around the holidays and when it's back-to-school time. Strike Skip Payment allows you to skip monthly payments for up to three months if you're out of work for 30 days or more due to a union-sanctioned strike or lockout. There is 24-hour personal service, where you talk with a real person any and every time you need assistance. With fraud protection, if your account shows any unusual activity, you'll be contacted immediately. Also, you will not be liable for any fraudulent charges. Secured Credit Card This is a special credit card available to help establish or re-establish credit. There is no application fee. The interest rate is a fixed 18%. The annual fee is $20. Your credit line is equal to 100% of your deposit and you can be reciewed for the AFM unsecured card after 18 months of on-time payments. Mortgage and Real Estate Program Buying a home is one of the largest, most important, and most complicated purchases in most people's lives. Finding your dream home doesn't have to be a nightmare, thanks to AFM Advantage mortgage and real estate program. Designed exclusively for AFM members and their families, this caluable program makes buying, selling and refinancing a home easier and more affordable than you ever thought possible. Some of the advantages of using this program are: special first-time home buyers programs, assistance from specially trained mortgage counselors, strike, layoff and disability assistance -- all through an easy, over-the-phone application process. The program is open to your children or parents, as well. Just one phone call provides you with one-stop shopping for all your mortgage and real estate meeds. Musicians' Loan Program AFM Advantage has negotiated an affordable loan program that offers you a variety of borrowing options at a low cost. An unsecured personal loan or line of credit lets you borrow from $2,500 to $25,000 at a competitive, low rate. A home equity loan lets you borrow from $10,000 to $250,000. Because the home equity loan is secured by your home, low interest rates make your payments more affordable. Plus, for many borrowers, the interest paid on ahome equity loan, or line of credit, is a tax-deductible expense, which futher reduces the cost. (Please consult a tax advisor.) Both types of credit -- unsecured and home equity -- offer you the flexibility of choosing either a fixed-rate loan or a variable-rate line of credit. Each option offers unique benefits. You can choose the credit product that's best for you, based on yoru personal situation. With a fixed-rate loan, you are sent a check for the full amount of your approved loan -- to be used for almost any purpose you wish. You'll have a fixed monly payment which can be tailored to your budget by selecting the repayment term that's right for you. You'll enjoy the security of locked-in monthly payments that won't increase. A variable rate line of credit allows you to write checks against your approved credit line as you need money -- the whole amount that you've qualified for, or any portion. Tou can use your credit line over and over again without reapplying. When you set up your account, you'll receive your own personalized line of credit checks. To use your line of credit simply write a check. No one can tell the difference between your line of credit checks and your regular checks. Sallie Mae - Education Loans The cost of higher education is increasing each year, and funding a student's college experience is becoming more challenging for families. Although the costs can seem daunting, with good planning, carefully selected savings and investment choices and information about how you can access college financial aid, paying for college need not be a barrier for students with high goals. This loan program can help families through the process of saving and paying for higher education, whether you're setting up a college fund for a newborn or helping a high school senior find ways to afford a college education. Special Payment Funds The American Federation of Musicians' and Employers Pension Fund (AFM-EP) is one of the largest pension funds in the entertainment industry with more than $1.5 billion in assets. Every year millions of dollards are paid out to musicians who have participated in this benefit. The Recording Industries Music Performance Trust Funds (MPTF) was created in 1948, by then AFM President James Petrillo and the recoding industry as an AFM collective bargaining initiative and has been sustained through ongoing collective bargaining agreements between the AFM and the recording industry. The trust fund is a source of funding for live concerts that are admission-free and open to the public. To provide direct payments to symphony, opera, and ballet musicians involved in a strike or other work stoppage, the AFM created the Symphony-Opera Strike Fund, which is open to eligible orchestras in the United States and Canada. Recognizing that there are orchestras that may not meet the symphony-opera-ballet strike fund eligibility requirements, the Regional Orchestra Emergency Relief Fund was created to help players in regional orchestras survive long confrontations by providing non-interest bearing loans. The Theater Defense Fund is available to musicians working under Federation touring agreements, including "Pamphlet B-Toring Theatrical Musicals," as well as to musicians working under local theatrical collective bargaining agreements. Under the conditions of the Theater Defense Fund, touring musicians are eligible for benefits equaling one half of minimum scale wages and full per diem for up to eight weeks in the event of a job action. Local musicians (if enrolled in the Fund for a year priot to a strike) are eligible for benefits equaling one half of their minimum scale wages for up to eight weeks. The Lester Petrillo Memorial Fund for Disabled AFM Musicians is a charitable fund that provides financial aid to disabled members. This fund is not intended to replace health insurance or provide general loans, but does assist qualified applicants on an emergency basis. The Phonography Record Manufacturer's Special Payments Fund, and the Theatrical and Television Motion Picture Special Payments Fund were established in order to provide recording musicians with additional revenue based on the sales of recordings and films beyond the time of the initial recording sessions. Emergency Travel Assistance Program (ROAD GIG) offers emergency assistance for members to get to the next gig or back home if a contracted engagement is cancelled for if the purchased/employer defaults on the contract. You must have a contract on file with your local to use this service.