The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) certified five low-income credit unions as community development financial institutions.
The five credit unions to earn certification are: Central Sunbelt Federal Credit Union in Laurel, Mississippi; Chicago Municipal Employees Credit Union in Chicago, Illinois; ELGA Credit Union in Burton, Michigan; New Covenant Dominion Federal Credit Union in the Bronx, New York; and Softite Community Federal Credit Union in Martins Ferry, Ohio.
NCUA and the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund agreed last year to form a partnership with the goal of increasing the number of certified credit unions. They worked together to develop a streamlined certification process for qualifying low-income credit unions, based on the data NCUA collects through its regulatory process.
The certification process calls for the credit union to submit loan transaction data to NCUA to show that it has done a required number of loans to CDFI-eligible individuals and geographic areas. Those that qualify are permitted to apply for certification through the streamlined process.
Last fall, NCUA invited more than 500 low-income credit unions to submit their loan data to see if they qualify. These five credit unions are the first to complete the certification process. NCUA announced that this initiative to expand low-income credit unions will become a permanent program.