ALEXANDRIA, Va.–The NCUA board was given an update on the agency’s Advancing Communities through Credit, Education, Stability & Support (ACCESS) initiative, which is aimed at expanding financial services into underserved and unbanked communities.
According to NCUA staff, the pillars of the ACCESS effort include:
Advancing Communities Through Credit
- These efforts include short term, small dollar lending programs, such as PALS 1 and PALS 2
Advancing Communities Through Education
NCUA staff said efforts to promote financial education have included:
- Webinars, such as the Pathways to Consumer Financial Well-being: The importance of financial inclusion and minority depository institutions, and a joint effort by NCUA and CFPB: Financial Readiness Resources and Information for Servicemembers, Veterans, and their Families
- Web Services, including MyCreditUnion.GOV, Financial Literacy & Education Resource Center, and the Learning Management Service
Advancing Communities through Stability
Staff said these efforts have included:
- MDI Preservation Program, including the 2020 MDI Mentoring Cohort funded through CDRLF grant funds; Public events that have included the MDI Forum and Freedman Bank Event, and MDI education materials provided free of charge on the Learning Management Service
- Low Income Designation, including military within this designation
New Charter. NCUA staff said the agency has finalized an internal project on modernizing charter process and began evaluating and implementing recommendations
Advancing Communities through Stability
As part of this initiative, NCUA staff said the agency has focused on:
- Field of Membership, including Letters to Credit Unions to provide information and resources related to community charters and conversions, and underserved areas expansions
- Evaluating regulatory changes to improve policy and process, including streamlined business and marketing plans, affinity groups associated with local communities, national standard as a benchmark for concentration of facilities
Advancing Communities through Support
Steps in support of this initiative, according to NCUA, have included:
- ACCESS Initiative 8
- Diversity, equity and inclusion tools and resources
- Annual Voluntary Credit Union Diversity Self-Assessment
- Business case for CU diversity
- Credit Union Guide to Supplier Diversity and FAQs
- Financial services Industry’s Untapped Market
- Second Chance Policy Initiative
- Fintech Innovations
Moving Forward
The agency staff said moving forward plans call for obtaining additional input from credit unions through a Request for Information, and quarterly reports on progress.
“This is an issue I have cared about and supported throughout my career,” said NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood, noting there “is no silver bullet. We need to carefully consider and develop a comprehensive agenda” to focus on those of modest means, as outlined in the Federal Credit Union Act.
Hood said there are 12 MDI applications currently in NCUA’s pipeline. “I expect these MDIs to provide healing in a lot of our urban areas,” said Hood.
‘It’s Not an Acronym’
NCUA Board Member Kyle Hauptman said “ACCESS is an acronym, but credit unions are the original access” to financial services. “ACCESS isn’t an initiative, access is credit unions.”
Hauptman asked how NCUA might better communicate to Americans that a credit union can be chartered and how might it better outline the process and make it as “painless as possible.”
Staff said there are a variety of ways to reach out to underserved communities to let them know chartering a CU is an option, including a working group within the ACCESS initiative designed to provide such information. The new charter working group is also reviewing information available on the NCUA site related to chartering a CU, staff said. And, staff added, the agency is also looking to better work with its partners, including credit unions themselves that could act as mentors.
Additional information can be found here.