READING, Penn. – Organizers seeking to start a credit union to serve this city’s Latino community have made a request for $1 million in funding from the Reading City Council to assist with start-up costs.
Daniel Betancourt, president and CEO of Community First Fund, and Jonathan Encarnacion, chief retail officer, made a presentation to council at its Committee of the Whole meeting, saying the project is important to the entire community, according to WFMZ.
"Many of you are very familiar with our work on the business side, but we're here today to talk about the launching of a brand new credit union here in Reading," Betancourt said, according to the report. "We know that the Latinos tend to be underbanked about four times the normal. What that means is that they're using check cashing, or they really don't have access to services, or they never had an account in their country."
Low-Income Designation
WFMZ quoted Encarnacion as adding, "The credit union has two designations. It has a low-income designation, and the other is what they call a minority depository institution. What that means is that we are different from other credit unions. Our target market is working with that low-income individual that is underbanked.
"We're talking about probably a net excess of 15,000 individuals," Encarnacion continued. "Our goal as a low-income credit union is to really work with individuals in such a way that they can access products and services."
‘Second Chance Product’
Noting the mark that appears on credit reports as the result of a bounced check, Encarnacion told the City Council the planned credit union will offer a “second chance product that that individual can then sign on and have a second chance to be able to not only remediate that credit but also have an opportunity to be to be bankable. The idea would be to have also a bilingual, bicultural environment within the branch, which means that someone will be able to speak in the native tongue."
Property Acquired
According to WFMZ, organizers have already acquired the property at 210 N. Fifth St., which was previously a Great Valley Savings and Loans and a Fulton Bank, to be home to the credit union.
The men said they need to raise about $9 million and are requesting $1 million from the city, as well as $1 million from the county, the report said.
Betancourt and Encarnacion said their goal is to raise 75% of the $9 million by the end of 2024, WFMZ reported.