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Carver Federal Savings Bank Chief Lending Officer Blondel Pinnock and Carver Community Development Corporation President Takisia Whites were recent guests on Marc Clarke’s “In Focus” radio show on 103.9 FM in New York City. Pinnock and Whites highlighted Carver’s approach to working with minority and women-owned business enterprises through its Small Business Mentoring Program. They also discussed Carver’s use of technology, such as the Carver mobile banking app, to reach millennial customers and young entrepreneurs. “Carver’s mission-based approach to banking has been part of our DNA since our founding in 1948,” said Pinnock. “Carver reinvests $0.83 of each deposit dollar we take in back into the communities we serve through a variety of consumer and small business loan products.”
Quontic Bank, a CDFI bank in New York City, is offering a new "Lite Doc" mortgage product. Like all CDFIs, Quontic is exempt from the new "ability-to-repay," or ATR, rules established under Dodd-Frank legislation. The new Lite Doc mortgages take advantage of that exemption, requiring only verification of employment and two months’ worth of bank statements. In contrast, most loan applications today require two years of 1040 income tax statements, two years of employment W2s and at least four pay stubs, in addition to bank statements and credit checks. The Lite Doc loans take the form of five-year adjustable-rate mortgages with interest rates in the low-to mid-5 percent range.
D.C.-based Industrial Bank has named Lisa Porter as its new senior vice president and chief financial officer. Porter's extensive financial management experience includes strategic planning, financial reporting and managing audits. "I am excited to be working with such a wonderful organization, filled with people who have a mission to give back to the community," Porter said. "Through my contribution in the finance division, my desire is to afford Industrial Bank an opportunity to extend its community outreach efforts." Industrial Bank President and CEO B. Doyle Mitchell hailed the hire as a step forward for the bank's community development work. "This is definitely a big moment for us as Ms. Porter brings a wealth of knowledge and experience relative to finance and community banking."
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.”