Our Programs and Services

NYCfNAC provides the following programs and services to enable its participating credit unions to better serve immigrant and low-income communities:

• New Products and Services
• Outreach and Education
• Business Lending
• Infrastucture Development
• Resource Delivery
• Network Services

NYCfNAC undertakes research and development on behalf of the credit unions to assess the feasibility of implementing new products and services. If feasibility is established, NYCfNAC identifies appropriate vendors, negotiates pricing, and provides technical assistance throughout the implementation phase.

• In 2001, NYCfNAC assisted credit unions in the development of an affordable credit card product.

• NYCfNAC negotiated with the City of New York to permit credit unions to become Enrolled Lenders in the NYC Capital Access Program, which provides loan loss reserve contributions for financial institutions making small businesses loans in low-income areas.

• In 2002, NYCfNAC created a participation loan framework that allows our Participating Credit Unions to share large loans, which allows them to meet their members' needs and to reduce their risk.

• In 2004 , Union Settlement FCU implemented its new Loan Call Center that allows members to apply for loans 24 hours a day over the telephone or through the credit union's website.

• In April 2005, participating credit unions will start offering IRnet, a product for sending money to 35 countries at competitive rates.
  

Our outreach and education activities are aimed at two audiences: 1) the credit unions' current membership, and 2) the thousands of "unbanked" low-income families living in New York City. Our efforts are intended to help families become more knowledgeable consumers of financial services, gain access to affordable financial services and credit, and promote the development of the communities served by our credit unions.

Newsletter

NYCfNAC has developed a common newsletter, MoneyTalk, which all Participating Credit Unions share. The newsletter has educational articles and allows for the credit unions to showcase their services.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program

NYCfNAC provides year-round support to credit unions offering free tax preparation services which ranges from securing funding, to planning, administering and evaluating their sites. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance or VITA sites provide thousands of low-income families with free tax preparation services. In 2007, Brooklyn Cooperative and Union Settlement Federal Credit Unions prepared 4,900 returns generating $6.97 million in tax refunds. Together with Neighborhood Trust, the credit unions opened accounts for 866 individuals.

Initiative for Outreach to the Unbanked (IOU) Program

NYCfNAC's IOU Program aims at bringing the unbanked -- immigrant communities, low-paid workers, public housing residents, recipients of public assistance, and others -- to participating credit unions. Under the IOU Program, NYCfNAC partners with organizations that serve these groups and engages them in a variety of activities, from enrolling in participating Credit Unions to attending financial education workshops.

Banking in the USA. In February 2004, NYCfNAC partnered with Centro de Educacion de Trabajadores (CET), who provides English and computer classes to adult immigrants, to incorporate basic banking concepts into CET's English classes. Under Banking in the USA, students participate in a series of basic banking workshops designed and delivered with the collaboration of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP), one of the leading advocacy organizations in economic development in New York City. In these workshops, students learn how the financial system works in the US, as well as about thefinancial services that credit unions offer.

Financial Education

Improving low-income families' money management skills is a key step to help them build assets. To that end, NYCfNAC has developed a series of workshops on basic financial topics. The workshops are particularly relevant for low-income groups, such as minorities, immigrants and recipients of public assistance that tend to meet their financial needs through fringe banking institutions. The workshops are generally organized in four modules:

The mainstream financial system. This module emphasizes the advantages of using mainstream financial institutions (e.g. Banks and credit unions) as opposed to the high-cost often predatory fringe banking institutions, such as check-cashers, pawn-shops and pay-day lenders. It emphasizes the importance of saving regularly as one way to build assets and the advantages of opening a savings account.

Affordable financial services in the community. Shows participants how to shop around for such financial services as savings and checking accounts, personal and business loans, etc. This module focuses on but is not limited to services offered by community development credit unions or CDCUs. It also addresses the importance of building credit history, how to avoid credit card scams and alternatives to improve their credit history.

Q & A. The Q & A section allows participants to spend time on issues of particular interest to them. For instance, immigration and tax-related questions related to financial services are common among immigrants groups; business loans and related services are usually the focus of microentrepreneurs groups.

Taxes and money management. The objective of this module is to explain the importance of paying taxes; clarify tax myths and encourage participants to use free tax preparation services offered by the numerous VITA Site located in the city.

It' s Your Money

The series of articles, "It's Your Money", addresses a variety of basic financial topicstopics and it is designed to address questions such as how to start saving, how to choose the right financial service provider, etc. The articles are produced in both English and Spanish, with the collaboration of volunteers from McGraw-Hill's Program Writers to the Rescue.

Marketing

Working with a graphic designer, NYCfNAC has helped our Participating Credit Unions to design four professional marketing and outreach campaigns.

NYCfNAC employs its expertise in the areas of project planning, development and finance to enlarge the branch network operated by the credit unions so their services can be extended to other underserved communities. NYCfNAC packages many sources of grants to fund these projects. Completed projects include:

• Lower East Side People's opened its new Branch We celebrated Lower East Side People's FCU opening their new branch at Avenue C and East 8th Street in October 2004.
• A new branch in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx for Bethex FCU
• A state-of-the-art branch for Homesteaders FCU in Central Harlem
• New ATMs at Homesteaders FCU and Bethex FCU.
  

These services are designed to generate economies of scale by enabling the credit unions to perform services on a collaborative basis they could not afford to do independently. The Business Lending Program is a key example.