ABBEVILLE, S.C.–The $31.9-million HopeSouth Credit Union is reporting it has made its first-ever mortgage loan.
“We’re a small credit union. It’s hard to be a mortgage lender at ($30-million in assets),” said CEO Faye Crocker.
Croker credited help from its certification as a CDFI, grants that helped it to promote, train and add a staffer, and a partnership with Maxwell to help make members mortgage-ready, for making that first mortgage loan possible.
The grand total of the first mortgage: $65,000.
Inexpensive Homes, But…
According to Crocker, the credit union’s service area in Abbeville County, S.C., has some relatively inexpensive homes for sale, but many residents still need help to be able to afford them.
“I’m pretty sure there was no bank standing in line to work for several months to get this young borrower mortgage ready and give him a $65,000 mortgage loan,” Crocker said. “We are serving a low-income demographic here in Abbeville County. A lot of our applicants are renters, and we want to help them become homeowners.”
In 2020, the median income in the U.S. was $67,521, vs. $43,090 in Abbeville County, while the national average home price in the U.S. is $416,100, compared to $199,000 in Abbeville County, which is to the west of Columbia, S.C., abutting the Georgia state line.
A Great Place to Start
Homeownership is a great place to start building wealth within the community, Crocker said in a statement.
“You think about those things becoming a homeowner means: They've already done some work to clean up your credit and increase their score. They're going to get better rates on car loans, which means they can afford to buy nicer cars, because they won't be paying big finance company interest rates on the car loan,” said Crocker. “Instead, they'll pay a reasonable rate, and they’ll be able to afford a home.”
Rolling Up the Sleeves
Bo McDonald, president and CEO of Your Marketing Co., which works with HopeSouth Credit Union, added, “I get to say this a lot, but HopeSouth is one of my favorite clients. Faye and her team roll up their sleeves and do the work that needs to be done and no one else is willing to do. HopeSouth lives up to its brand name with this one mortgage loan. They’re providing hope in a community that thought it had been forgotten by traditional financial services providers long ago. We’d have a lot more credit unions serving people who can’t find affordable services anywhere else if we follow HopeSouth’s lead.”
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