Non-Profits Seek to Reverse CU Chartering Dearth

MILLVILLE, N.J. – A community group last week said it has applied to state financial regulators to start a community development credit union, one of at least four new credit unions in the works.
 
The trend could help reverse the dramatic decline in chartering of credit unions. Only four new credit unions were chartered last year, the fewest since before the Federal CU Act.
 
Three of the four were faith-based credit unions and all four were chartered as low-income credit unions, making them eligible to tap into NCUA’s community development fund.
 
The Tri-County Community Action Partnership said it is partnering with other community groups and financial institutions for the credit union start-up. One bank, Colonial Bank, has pledged a $100,000 non-member deposit for the project.
 
Separately, a group in Queens, N.Y., headed by the Queens Community House said it is trying to organize a CDCU for the New York City neighborhoods of Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, and Corona.
 
State regulators in California are reviewing two applications for new credit unions: from a low-income group in Los Angeles calling itself Services Unlimited CU, and a faith-based group in San Francisco calling itself the South Pacific Latin American District of the Assemblies of God.