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James Slocum, CIO of OneUnited Bank, discussed the role technology plays in the bank’s strategy in an interview: "After the financial crisis, we recognized that our customer base in particular was pretty hard-hit by the recession, that their credit was damaged, and that they lacked the financial tools to dig themselves out of that pit that had been created by the financial downturn. In 2013, we started building our UNITY Visa secured credit card product... That particular project was a strategic one for the institution, as we saw it as our re-entry to offering online products and services to our customers nationally. Salesforce became the medium by which we’ve been able to both have a connection with our customers and be secure."
The CFPB has proposed a new rule that will apply to payday loans, auto title loans, deposit advance products and certain high-cost installment and open-end loans. The rule would create new ability-to-repay requirements calling for lenders to ensure the borrower will have enough income to afford the loan while meeting their other financial obligations and living expenses. Lenders would also be barred from offering a “roll-over” loan to customers within 30 days of their previous loan. Lenders would be required to use credit reporting systems to report and obtain information on certain loans covered by the proposal. The proposal would also limit repeated debit attempts that can rack up more fees and may make it harder for consumers to get out of debt.
At Virginia Community Capital’s 10 year anniversary celebration, the bank highlighted success stories across Virginia. Keith Sanders’ screen printing business, Classic Creations, started as a hobby. But when friends encouraged him to turn it into a business, he began looking at how and where he could start his shop. With a grant from the Virginia Tobacco Commission, he found the building and had orders under way but no financing in place. After being turned down by traditional banks, he was introduced to VCC. “The banks kept saying no, no, no,” said Sanders. “[B]ut VCC didn’t say no.”
Sunrise Banks is breaking ground on a new 57,000-square-foot headquarters. The 200-employee company currently has holding company employees spread across three locations, a holdover from the 2013 merger of Franklin, Park Midway and University banks into Sunrise Banks. The new building will allow Sunrise to consolidate those employees at a single location. Sunrise also intends to sublease space to a nonprofit corporation and build a training room that it will rent to community organizations. The new Sunrise headquarters will be part of the transformation of a distressed industrial-residential neighborhood near the University of Minnesota into a vibrant innovation district.
Partners for the Common Good is now accepting listings for the relaunch of its CapNexus networking platform. CapNexus enables loan originators, interested buyers and financing partners to post community development lending opportunities and build partnerships. CapNexus 2.0 will expand on that core functionality with improved search tools and groundbreaking networking features for sharing news, promoting services and more. Listings on CapNexus reach an audience of more than 2,000 community development professionals. Now is the ideal time to submit listings in order to have them displayed prominently at the launch of the updated platform. Creating a CapNexus listing is free using this form.
In a new report, Southern Bancorp Community Partners investigates the impact of the 2009 Arkansas interest rate cap that effectively ended the storefront payday lending business in the state. In a survey of former payday borrowers, 59% of respondents felt their lives had improved since payday lending was banned. Without access to payday loans, respondents adapted with a variety of alternatives including working longer hours, getting loans from friends or banks and using credit cards to meet their financial needs. The survey also revealed an interesting rift between financial decisions borrowers believe are advisable and those they actually use. For instance, while only three survey respondents said they would recommend using a pawn shop, 19 had done so.
First Southwest Bank partnered with eight schools to teach over 360 fourth graders the importance of developing savings goals, tracking money spent and money earned, and delayed gratification. The lessons are part of the American Bankers Association Foundation's Teach Children to Save Day. “Familiarizing students with money management and savings fundamentals at an early age decreases their chances of falling prey to predatory lenders later,” said First Southwest Bank CEO Kent Curtis. “Teach Children to Save Day is an opportunity for our employees to teach financial literacy in our rural communities, and stress the importance of saving before students are faced with debt temptations.”
The FDIC has issued a call for comments on the agency's evaluation of the economic inclusion potential of mobile financial services. Current regulations, the CRA in particular, generally do not consider the emerging benefits of mobile financial services to underserved consumers who lack branch access. This has created challenges for banks attempting to overcome CRA-based objections to merger and acquisition plans. Before the emergence of mobile banking, banks used branch mapping to overcome these objections. But now, many banks are downsizing their branch footprints, making it harder to overcome CRA objections. By encouraging the FDIC to consider mobile banking strategies, bankers hope to create a new avenue for proving that they impact underserved consumers. Learn more about the request for comments here.
Credit Builders Alliance has opened registration for its 3rd annual Credit Building Symposium in July 13 and 14 in Washington, D.C. The symposium fosters dialogue between nonprofit organizations involved in credit building and corporate and government entities whose practices include credit reporting, credit scoring and credit granting. Key topics will include the linkage between credit building and the broader issues of income inequality, poverty reduction and asset building. Addressing these issues is of critical importance as wealth inequality has continued to widen along racial and ethnic lines since the end of the Great Recession. Register for the conference here.
John Melone, Pan American Bank Vice President, Business Relationship Officer and Palatine Office Manager was honored by the Palatine Township Senior Citizens Council for his volunteer service. Melrose Park, Ill.-based Pan American Bank has been a sponsoring partner of the council since 2014. In that time, the bank has donated close to $10,000 in the form of sponsorships and donations. “It is an honor and a pleasure to work side by side with this organization in helping them help our senior community,” said Melone. “It means a lot to me to be involved with the PTSCC, since they care for so many people. Everyone should consider taking some time to at least stop by the center to see how much they do, and after they see that, I believe they would want to be involved as well.”