Better choice draws FDIC.

The Pennsylvania model on payday alternatives has now become something for banks to look at, according to the FDIC which in a rare step invited officials of the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association and NCUA to discuss Better Choice.

Appearing at an Oct. 22 Washington hearing on payday products banks might offer "on a profit basis" were Michael Wishnow, senior vice president of communications and marketing at the PCUA, and NCUA Staff Attorney Justin Anderson, who did not speak at the session.

"This is the second time we have been invited to testify in front of FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, and it was both extremely rewarding and humbling to know that we are among the national leaders in helping low- and moderate-income working consumers move toward economic self sufficiency," said Wishnow.

Wishnow reviewed the success of the nearly three-yearold Better Choice in which CUs offer members $500 low-rate loans tied to savings accounts.

Bair had invited PCUA and the NCUA to take part in the proceedings of the agency's economic inclusion advisory committee made up of bank CEOs looking at "how to make the FDIC's two-year small-dollar loan pilot program more profitable" to participating banks.

Wishnow said he would welcome a repeat invitation for future meetings on the progress of the agency's payday alternative pilot.

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