The Tallahassee-Leon County Credit Union has received nearly $2 million to boost its lending efforts to low-income residents. Credit Union CEO Lisa Brown says the company has historically served state and local government employees and has been increasing its lending to employed, but financially-cash strapped customers.
“Our number one program is first time car buyer program, our number two program is payday lending alternatives: we’re trying to get people out of the payday lending trap," she says. "And then we start looking at—when I say small business loans, I really mean micro-business loans, only a few thousand dollars—those types of loans.”
Such loans are often difficult for people to obtain because banks have largely stopped writing them. The $1.75 million grant comes from the U.S. Treasury.
