Business View Magazine June 2023

111 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 6 ALTERNAT IVES FEDERAL CREDI T UNION “The Credit Unions’ purpose is to help build generational wealth for people that have been left behind.” Says Joe Cummins, Community Inclusion Director. “As a Community Development Financial Institution, our mission is to serve families with less than 80% of the area’s median income, so we need to go out and find them because they don’t know about financial services and products that are non-predatory. So, when I go into a community, generally, they don’t believe we’re going to help them. They’ve been burned by financial institutions too often. Often, I see people with up to 25% APR car loans and that’s just normal. So, I have to convince them that Alternatives can and is willing to help them. They’ve never had someone from a financial institution speak to them that way.” One of the main problems that he often encounters is that many people identify completely with their credit scores. They have been told over and over that because they have a low credit score, they can’t get an affordable loan, which is often the case. There is a lot of education necessary to convince people that they may actually be eligible for a car loan, a home loan, or a debt consolidation loan because of the way Alternatives has redefined creditworthiness. “People in the communities we serve are accustomed to these predatory loans,” Cummins goes on to explain, “and so people are wary of us. But what people are finding is that we can really help them. There was this one bus driver who was paying 24 percent on his car loan. We discovered he also had a personal loan at 38 percent. We were able to pay off the personal loan with his new auto loan at 7.25% APR. So, we ended up saving him $4600 in finance charges over the life of those two loans.” The bigger issue was that he had a business that was struggling partly because his income was going towards these predatory loans. He now has room to breathe. To get that message out there though, Cummins Via – Growing up in a family with low-income, Via had to sell cookies in high school in order to afford to play sports. With business education and support she was able to successfully manage the growth of her business (Via’s Cookies) Keli – single mom. With homeownership education and a mortgage now a homeowner Orlando – Parents immigrated from the Dominican Republic. Orlando spent 12 years as an executive Chef. When his dream opportunity to buy a restaurant came his credit union denied his loan application. “Alternatives not only worked with me to buy the business, I was able to purchase the building as well.” (Graft Wine and Cider Bar). The heroes we meet every day often face tremendous challenges in life. With a little of these folks can become a reality, especially for those with low-income or who have