North Side Community FCU offers citizenship loans

CHICAGO (2/20/07)--North Side Community FCU signed the first loan Monday in a new community program to help Chicago immigrants with the costs of applying for U.S. citizenship.

In a press conference attended by state and U.S. officials and community leaders, Maria Noriega, who came to the U.S. from Mexico 19 years ago and earns $450 a week as a nanny, received the first loan in the program.

Currently, the application fee for citizenship is $400. An increase, possibly to $657, is planned for mid-year. Often adult family members apply for citizenship at the same time, making the total cost $800 to $1,200, a difficult amount to save before citizenship.

Maria Noriega, center, first borrower under the New Americans Loan Program at North Side Community FCU, receives applause during a press conference from (from left): Abel Nunez, Centro Romero; Illinois State Rep. Harry Osterman; Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias; State Rep. Greg Harris; U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky; and North Side Manager Ed Jacob. (Photo provided by North Side Community FCU)

The six-month loans will start at $400, with a 10% interest rate, said Ed Jacob, CEO of the $8.3 million asset credit union. If the application fee increases, the loans will increase as well. The citizenship process takes from three to nine months after the application is submitted.

Jacob told News Now that about 25% of its members are immigrants, most of them Latino. However, other immigrant groups, such as Bosnians, are growing.

"This, in many ways, is the most important loan people will get in their life," he said. "That's a role we'd like to play." He noted the credit union isn't planning to make a lot of money from the program.

The credit union hopes to make 100 loans the first year to individuals referred to the credit union by Centro Romero, a nonprofit community organization that conducts citizenship classes. Another local nonprofit organization, the Organization of the Northeast, initiated the program.

At the press conference, U.S. Rep. Jan. Schakowsky (D-Ill.) congratulated the credit union on the program and announced she would introduce a bill to delay the proposed increase in citizenship fees and require the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to study its costs before increasing rates. "We need more programs like this one," she said.

Other credit unions may take up the program and one large credit union is interested, said Jacob. "If the program is successful, we will expand it to other organizations working in the New Americans Initiative within our field of membership (such as Muslin Women's Resource Center)," he said.

The initiative allows North Side "to reach out to an underserved market, provide financial literacy training and counseling, and provide affordable credit to future citizens" as well as serve as a role model for other financial institutions interested in serving the growing immigrant market, he said.