The business case for community building
Community development financial institution credit unions are making friends and making money.
February 22, 2021 by Richard H. Gamble, CUES Blog
Credit unions have a mission to help struggling members and a need to protect their own viability with prudent underwriting. That’s often seen as a tension, but it doesn’t have to be, say leaders of credit unions participating in the Community Development Financial Institution program. CDFI status allows CUs to have it both ways, they say.
Consider what happened recently when CUES member Brice Yocum, CSME, CCE, CEO of $280 million Tucoemas Federal Credit Union, Visalia, California, needed a haircut. His young barber, Cris, was excited because he had just received his first credit card and would be able to make needed purchases. But he was less than thrilled with the 24% interest rate he would be charged on unpaid balances.