KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With business plan in hand for the creation of a home health assisted living company, Shila Poindexter started searching for resources to get her business off the ground.
She didn't have to look far. Poindexter's plan was so thorough that she was crowned the winner of Mazuma Credit Union's What's the Big Idea Challenge. Part of Filene Research Institute's i3 pilot program designed to reach those with an entrepreneurial spirit, the contest rewarded Poindexter with a $3,000 marketing package to help her launch her new business. The package includes logo and stationery design and stationery printing costs–all covered by $300 million Mazuma.
Poindexter said the Big Idea Evaluator, which used respondents' answers in three categories (market, management and money) to provide feedback, offer advice and counsel and suggest resources to help the entrepreneurs create successful new business ventures, was very helpful in outlining her commitment to creating a new business.
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"I'm excited," Poindexter said. "I've always wanted to own my own business. There's a lot of dedication and time involved, and I'm ready to dig in."
"Shila's submission was well thought out and received by the judges as a feasible concept," said Ryan Reid, relationship architect at Mazuma.
The judges for the challenge were made up of current Mazuma members who are business owners. Eric Jones, Mazuma's vice president, business services, said it was beneficial to have members on the panel who have been through the process of forming new businesses.
"It was great to get our members more involved in what Mazuma is doing and to use their experiences as a resource for other members," Jones said. "After all, we are a cooperative."
Lisa Renner, i3 member and president/CEO of CU Holding Company LLC, an aggregation of Mazuma's CUSOs, said the challenge is an opportunity for credit unions to provide business friendly services that promise significant rewards in future business deposit and lending services.
"It's just one tool credit unions can use to attract entrepreneurs and provide services that contribute significantly to the bottom line," Renner said.
ABA Sees Big Jump in Delinquencies
WASHINGTON — Perhaps not surprising, 30-day delinquencies on home equity loans extended by banks are on a sharp rise, the American Bankers Association reported last week.
Home equity delinquencies climbed 14 basis points to 1.10% during the first quarter, marking the highest rate for that loan category since data was first collected in 1987, according to the ABA.
In a press release issued by its consumer credit staff, the ABA said bank card delinquencies also increased, jumping 13 basis points to 4.51%, slightly above the five-year average of 4.40%. ABA said its data were drawn from its quarterly consumer credit delinquency bulletin.
CUNA-prepared statistics, meanwhile, do not break down loan delinquencies, category-by-category, but its monthly CU estimate shows delinquent loans delinquent as a percentage of all loans up from 0.68% to 1.03%, year-over-year.
"In the 25-year period of 1983-2008, CU delinquencies as a percentage of all loans are now right about in the middle, from a high of 3.8% at year-end 1983 to a low of 0.7% in 2004," according to CUNA.
The ABA's chief economist, James Chessen, said in a statement that it has been a tough quarter for consumers faced with rising food and gas prices, little income growth "and fewer resources available to manage debt."
More consumers, said Chessen, are having trouble meeting their obligations because of the confluence of anemic personal income growth, falling home equity and stock values plus job losses.
The ABA did say that some of its loan categories showed delinquencies improving. Overall, the composite ratio, which tracks eight closed-end installment loan categories, fell three basis points to 2.62%. "This was largely due to a decline in indirect auto loan delinquencies, which fell four basis points to 3.09%," said the trade group.
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