WASHINGTON — The REAL Solutions program of the National Credit Union Foundation aimed at guiding CUs on products for the underbanked is rolling along at a faster clip than expected with 261 participating CUs in 18 states, a big jump from last December, NCUF officials reported this week.
"And so now we have to slow the expansion down just a bit," according to Lois Kitsch, head of the NCUF program.
A big reason for putting on the brakes, she said, is to meet heavy demands of CUs and leagues for research and advice on the products including everything from payday lending and check cashing to tax preparation and immigrant services.
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Kitsch, who is national program manager for REAL Solutions and a former staffer at Filene Research Institute in Madison, noted that when NCUF took over REAL Solutions administration last December, there were five leagues participating. In the first half of this year, 12 more signed and five or six more are slated to come on board during the remainder of 2007, she said.
The original REAL Solutions business plan called for 10 leagues to be added each year.
Six "field coaches" scattered across the U.S. have been hired within the last six months, said Kitsch, stressing managers are now focused on identifying products and services proven successful and documenting results in terms of how much money participating CUs have saved members.
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