CHARLOTTE, N.C.--Southern Chautauqua Federal Credit Union has quietly served its low-income membership in Western New York.
SCFCU is “Doing Well by Doing Good” in the neighborhood. Salus, a leading fintech creating members for life by powering inclusive solutions, is joining them on their journey to focus on their data to continue serving ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) households.
Southern Chautauqua, which has grown from 150 members to become the fourth-largest credit union in Western New York by membership (now over 20,000), has built its success on serving working families in one of New York State’s most economically challenged counties. Under the leadership of CEO John Felton, the credit union has achieved a 16% capital ratio and ROA of more than 2% while maintaining a mission-focused approach to community lending.
“ALICE families are good people that are just trying to make ends meet, good people that want to take their kids on vacation,” Felton said. “We work with our families. We talk to them, we help prioritize what they're looking for, and we try to make the best decisions possible by talking to people.” The collaboration will leverage Salus' advanced data analytics platform, Sentinel, to help Southern Chautauqua identify successful lending patterns and expand access to affordable financial services. The two companies’ missions aligned.