BROCKTON, Mass. -
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One of the main functions of the credit union's new Multi-Cultural Banking Center is to provide financial education and assistance to the core populations who are being kicked out of their homes in Brockton, where 1,756 foreclosures last year is the highest on record for this working class city of 100,000, according to Jim Blake, president of HarborOne.
Participating in last week's groundbreaking with HarborOne officials were Steven Antonakes, the state's Banking Commissioner, and Daniel Crane, director of the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs, as well as representatives of several non-profit organizations serving the same clientele.
Blake, a member of the state's task force on foreclosures, said communities around the Bay State, especially lower-income working class communities, like Brockton, and the state itself, are reporting some of the highest foreclosure rates on record.
HarborOne's Banking Center, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, will give multilingual courses on foreclosure counseling, home-buying, car-buying and personal finance. Brockton is a blue-collar city teeming with large populations of Spanish, Portuguese and Cape Verdeans, so classes will be provided in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, and English as a second language.
But the main focus initially will be on the epidemic of home foreclosures, Blake said, noting that HarborOne has had no foreclosures over the past year-and just three in the past decade.
That's because the credit union doesn't offer the kind of non-traditional adjustable-rate mortgages and other subprime loans that are making up most of the foreclosed mortgages, he asserted. Courses at the Banking Center will try to explain these products and help wean borrowers from them by explaining options for refinancing.
The courses will be held in the $1.4-billion credit union's vacant old headquarters building, which is currently being renovated into classrooms. Official opening of the center is scheduled for September.
Participants-they don't have to be HarborOne members-will be offered one-on-one counseling and referrals to local social services agencies, some of which will be invited to set up offices in the center, said Blake.
Participants in a multi-week course will automatically be allowed to open a checking account or line of credit with the credit union, said Blake, who hopes to be able to create other financial products or services aimed at this underserved market. "We're trying to take a practical approach to this," he said.
HarborOne, which has partnered with the National CU Foundation's Real Solutions on the project, is looking for other partners, either among local social service agencies or credit union entities, or for possible grant sources for financing.
