What is Technical Assistance?
What do you charge for technical assistance?
What about organizing groups–-how do you help those that may want to start a credit union?
What is a CDCU? Do you have to be low-income designated to qualify for membership or technical assistance?
What is low-income designation? Will you help our credit union get it?
What are the advantages of low-income designation?
Will you help us with financial projections? With our net worth restoration plan?
Will you facilitate our strategic planning session?
Who is the Technical Assistance staff?
Are Technical Assistance staff the same as NCUA or state examiners?
My credit union is having an emergency, what should I do?
How do I start a faith-based credit union?
What is Technical Assistance?
It is the Federation’s program that can provide specific help to your credit union in many areas including organizing, accounting, regulatory compliance and relations, planning, policies, projections, marketing, fundraising and other areas. Our department is where "the rubber meets the road". We help you with what you need help with.
What do you charge for technical assistance?
Telephone consultation is free of charge, otherwise our general fee is $75/hour ($600/day).
If we can arrange to visit a newly chartered (within the past 5 years) credit union in conjunction with another visit or activity in the same general geographic area, we can often make an on-site visit at no charge.
If a credit union is in crisis we can waive costs.
What about organizing groups –- how do you help those that want to start a credit union?
We generally do not get too involved with groups until they have obtained their charter. This is because we have found that out of every 100 callers we get expressing interest in starting a credit union, very few actually end up organizing one, perhaps one or two.
Having stated this, we will work with anyone interested in starting a credit union! Generally the first step is for us to send out a free informational "organizing" packet containing much of the information a first-time caller might be seeking. We urge those that are serious to join us as associate members for a nominal fee, to get on our mailing list.
After the caller (interested party) receives the organizing information and has had a chance to review it, we then suggest that he or she call our organizing consultant, Mark Levine, at 1-212-809-1850, extension 206 for more information. On a case-by-case basis, we can sometimes arrange for one of our outside consultants to work with your group in organizing your credit union, on a for-fee basis. However, it should be realized that you will be doing most of the work, since it is your credit union.
What is a CDCU? And do I have to be low-income designated to qualify for membership or to receive technical assistance?
The term "CDCU"–community development credit union–is a self designation. The Federation has used the term since our inception, in 1974, the term having been invented by the credit unions that formed us. We have made it a common term in the industry. The main focus of a CDCU is to work with either a rural or urban area, improving the welfare of its citizens.
A CDCU is usually community-based, but we do have occupational and associational based CDCUs in our membership. (Occupational is also called employee-based, and associational is also called faith-based.)
A CDCU may or may not be low-income designated. Low income designation is an official action from either the federal regulator/insurer, National Credit Union Administration, and/or the state supervisory authority, in the case of state-chartered credit unions. Many of our associational (faith-based) credit unions are not low income designated, but they are CDCUs.
Therefore, you do not have to be low-income designated to qualify for membership or technical assistance.
What is low-income designation? Will you help our credit union get it?
As explained in the previous question, low-income designation is an official action from either the National Credit Union Administration or your state supervisory authority. You qualify if over 50% of your members are "low income". Per the National Credit Union Administration a low-income credit union is one: "...where a majority of its members either earn less than 80 per cent of the average for all wage earners as established by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or whose annual income falls at or below 80 per cent of the median household income for the nation."
We will assist your credit union in obtaining low-income designation.
What are the advantages of low-income designation?
Only low-income designated credit unions (LICUs) can:
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Access funds otherwise not available to traditional credit unions. For instance, only low-income credit unions may accept non-member deposits and secondary capital from the Federation or other sources, and only low-income credit unions can receive loan funds from the National Credit Union Administration’s Community Development Revolving Loan Fund.
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Receive other type of funding such as Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) funds from banks, and certain funds from the US Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund.
Will you help us with financial projections? With our net worth restoration plan?
Yes, we will. We have software that we will send you upon request, at no charge, and we will work with you, as time permits. We will also assist your credit union with its net worth restoration plan, on a fee or no-fee basis, depending upon circumstances (staff availability, use of an outside consultant, etc.).
Will you facilitate our strategic planning session?
Yes, we will. Again, this will be on a fee or no-fee basis, depending upon circumstances (staff availability, use of an outside consultant, etc.).
Who is the Technical Assistance staff?
Our Technical Assistance Department staff consist of Pablo DeFilippi, Director of Membership Services; Brian Gately, Senior Consultant for Small and Emerging Credit Unions; and Valerie Harrison, Program Officer.
For a full listing of Federation staff and contact information, please click here.
We also have consultants for such specialized areas as organizing, asset-liability management, business-plan development, etc.
Are Technical Assistance staff the same as NCUA or state examiners?
No. Examiners are staff that work for either the National Credit Union Administration or the state regulatory agency. We are neither.
My credit union is having an emergency, what should I do?
Call (800) 437-8711 and ask for our technical assistance staff. We need to know there's a problem in order to help fix it. We’ve saved many credit unions, let us help.
How do I start a faith-based credit union?
The criteria and procedures for starting a faith-based credit union are exactly the same as for starting any other state or federally chartered credit union. The distinguishing factor is that a faith-based credit union's field of membership is based on a common bond of religious affiliation. Generally, these credit unions are established by religious institutions or religious organizations.
