WASHINGTON – The REAL Solutions program of the National Credit Union Foundation is now a full year ahead of schedule with 30 state leagues as participants, NCUF said Friday.
"The program has evolved beyond products and services and is now a documented business strategy for credit unions to grow their memberships by serving the underserved," declared Steve Delfin, executive director of NCUF in a year-end report.
As millions of consumers faced a crisis economy in 2008, said Delfin, REAL Solutions, with its emphasis on alternative payday products, community outreach and tax assistance, "became an even more critical strategy" for CUs in reaching the public.
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Looking ahead to 2009, REAL Solutions "will focus on growing deeper rather than broader and while we still plan to add more states, we expect to introduce new products and services, pilot projects, and toolkits to help more credit unions," said Lois Kitsch, REAL Solutions national program director.
Each time a state adopts REAL Solutions, an NCUF Field Coach and a CU development professional from the state league train CUs on the low-wealth products that are available.
NCUF noted a 2008 Filene Research Institute study based on Cornell University research showed the REAL Solutions initiative "illustrates the type of strategy credit unions could adopt to successfully engage the underserved financial market."
"This is important," said Filene "because underserved households – while at the bottom of the economic pyramid now – represent future savers, car-buyers, homeowners, and future generations of credit union members."
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