Ill. CUs Join State Treasurer Venture
on Unbanked

By Jim Rubenstein

Credit Union Times, Hoboken, NJ

Published Monday, October 12, 2009

The Illinois State Treasurer is teaming up with credit unions and banks this month to promote low-cost or free “second chance” accounts to underserved minorities under the so-called “bank on” program started three years ago by the San Francisco City Treasurer.

More than half a dozen CUs in Rockford and northern Illinois communities have signed up for the program, unveiled at press briefings last week, and coordinated by treasurer Alexi Giannoulias in Rockford and Aurora.

Illinois CU leaders taking part in the “bank on” program have stressed that many minorities in cities like Rockford and Chicago “have been left behind in the traditional banking system.”

Pew found that Rockford, a manufacturing city of 160,000 and once an automaker hub, is home to 4,600 unbanked households.

Ed Berg, CEO of First Northern CU, Chicago, said by participating in the “bank on” program, Rockford community groups and nonprofits “can refer people to our credit union who truly need our help without partner referrals, we may never be able to reach them.” Giannoulias’ office said 50 banks and CUs have enrolled in the program statewide with press briefings slated this week in downstate Illinois.

Karen Jurasek, president/CEO of Generations CU in Rockford, said many of the nonprofit partners in “bank on” provide essential elements such as housing and job training, “but their clients lack the skills necessary to manage their housing expense and their paycheck.”