San Francisco CUs help unbanked with debit cards
SAN FRANCISCO (10/25/06)--Four credit unions are part of a program to steer San Francisco's unbanked population away from storefront check cashers and payday lenders and to traditional financial services providers.
Mission Area FCU, Northeast Community FCU, Patelco CU and Spectrum FCU are part of the Bank on San Francisco program, which promotes demand-deposit accounts that are linked with debit cards.
The goal of Bank on San Francisco is to get 10,000 of the city's 50,000 unbanked residents into relationships with financial providers.
For people who have no experience with credit unions or banks, "checkless checking" is a non-threatening way to get them into the system, said Jose Cisneros, treasurer for San Francisco (ATM & Debit News Oct. 19).
The program is focusing on Latino immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala and African-Americans. Immigrants have shied away from financial institutions because they fear they don't have the proper identification.
And, non-sufficient fund fees for bounced checks have discouraged African-Americans who may live paycheck to paycheck, said Ben Mangan, president/CEO, Earned Assets Resource Network.
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