CHESANING, Mich.–As a way of saying thank you for taking a chance on him, a member of ELGA Credit Union here has created a video honoring the CU and posted it to YouTube.
Jonathan Leonard said he knew it was a long shot when back in 2006, with the economy struggling and him being just 22 years old, he was seeking a loan to get a used car business off the ground. He approached the credit union, and it said yes.
“We knew he could do this. He had the drive, the motivation. There was nothing standing in his way except for access to funds,” ELGA EVP/Chief Lending Officer Terry Katzur said.
Leonard has since grown his business to hundreds of cars and 16 employees. ELGA now provides the car loans to his customers.
In addition, to let everyone know how he got his start, Leonard used his own money to put up a billboard on his property bearing ELGA’s name.
“I did have a lot of people that doubted me. ‘You’re young. Basically you don’t know what you’re doing,”’ Leonard said in the video, which can be found here in a video honoring ELGA Credit union.