The FileneResearch Institute is testing two pilot programs, the financialservices think tank said Monday.

The Pay Yourself Back program was a submission from New Haven,Conn.-based policy research organization Innovations for PovertyAction. It directs loan payments into a savings account after theborrower repays the loan.

The Employer Sponsored Small Dollar program partners creditunions with participating SEGs to coordinate loans that can serveas an alternate to payday lenders. Employers and credit unions cancoordinate repayments to come out of directly deposited paychecks.Like the Pay Yourself Back program, borrowers place the paymentsinto savings accounts after they repay the loans.

Two other program pilots, which have already found hostingcredit unions and begun their tests, are Non-Prime Auto Lending, aprogram that helps credit unions fairly price and offer auto loansto lower income members, and Borrow and Save, a payday loanalternative program that allows credit union members to repay smalldollar loans over a longer term and establish a savings plan.

Filene is still seeking credit unions willing to host its TrustCard Debt Reduction Program, which consolidates loans into new, lowrate credit card accounts as a means of debt reduction andfinancial education.

Filene said Pay Yourself Back will be hosted at six creditunions, including Educators Credit Union, Racine, Wis.; DistrictGovernment Employees Federal Credit Union, Washington, D.C.;Cooperative Federal Credit Union, Syracuse, N.Y.; Holy RosaryCredit Union, Kansas City, Kan.; Brooklyn Cooperative FederalCredit Union, Brooklyn, N.Y.; and CTA C&M Credit Union inChicago.

The Employer Sponsored Loan program has 14 credit union hosts,including Fitzsimons Credit Union, Aurora, Colo.; Credit Union ofthe Rockies, Golden, Colo.; Denver Community Credit Union, Denver;Metrum Credit Union, Centennial, Colorado; Holy Rosary CreditUnion, Kansas City, Mo.; State Employees Credit Union, Buffalo,N.Y.; Spring Bank, Bronx, New York; Promedica Federal Credit Union,Toledo, Ohio; Sun Federal Credit Union, Maumee, Ohio; Toledo UrbanCredit Union, Toledo, Ohio; Commodore Perry Federal Credit Union,Oak Harbor, Ohio; Toledo Metro Credit Union, Toledo, Ohio; Cy-FairFederal Credit Union, Houston; and North Country Federal CreditUnion, Burlington, Vt.

“Since the Federal Credit Union Act of 1934, credit unions havebeen promoting thrift and meeting the credit and savings needs ofconsumers, especially persons of modest means,” said CynthiaCampbell, director of innovation labs. “It is a part of whothey are as not-for-profit, member owned organizations. It makessense they embraced Pay Yourself Back because it is another tool tohelp their members save money.”

Campbell said even though Filene started the tests at differenttimes, the organization will have at least 12 months' worth of datato evaluate next year.

Filene's accessible financial services incubator is a projectfunded by a $700,000, 30-month grant from the Ford Foundation. Ifany of the five new financial products and services are found to besustainable for credit unions and beneficial for credit unionmembers, they will be made available to credit unions and otherfinancial institutions.