Credit union to use grant to expand mortgage program.Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard Eugene's smallest credit union has received a federal grant to help in its mission of serving low-income clients. O.U.R. Federal Credit Union was awarded $276,500 from the U.S. Treasury U.S. Treasury Created in 1798, the United States Department of the Treasury is the government (Cabinet) department responsible for issuing all Treasury bonds, notes and bills. Some of the government branches operating under the U.S. Treasury umbrella include the IRS, U.S. Department's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund Established through the Reigle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, or CDFI Fund, is administered under the U.S. Department of the Treasury. . The new grant is the fourth and largest that the Financial Institution Fund has given to the credit union since 1999. "We've accumulated building blocks, working up to this," said Loretta Moesta, the credit union's president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . "The first two were for technical assistance, and this is the second one for financial assistance," she said. "Each one kind of grows on the other." The grant will be used to help O.U.R. Federal Credit Union expand its home mortgage program - which includes a partnership with Wells Fargo Wells Fargo armored carriers of bullion. [Am. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 1147] See : Protectiveness Wells Fargo company that handled express service to western states; often robbed. [Am. Hist. Bank, as well as its own lending option - and to increase its financial literacy Financial literacy is the ability of individuals to make appropriate decisions in managing their personal finances. Raising levels of financial literacy is now a focus of government programmes in countries including[1] Australia, Japan, the United States and the UK. efforts and broaden its campaign against predatory predatory pertaining to predator. predatory behavior the hunting of birds, mice and small reptiles by cats and the hunting and herding behavior of dogs, often facilitated in a pack. lending by payday loan A payday loan or paycheck advance is a small, short-term loan that is intended to cover a borrower's expenses until his or her next payday. Typical loans are between $100 and $1500, on a two-week term and have interest rates in the range of 390 percent to 900 percent companies. Moesta said that the grant also may enable the credit union to buy its own building at 325 Blair Blvd. The former Blair Island restaurant at Blair Boulevard and Van Buren Street was purchased in 1999 by the nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. Neighborhood Economic Development Corp., with the city of Eugene's backing, for use by the credit union. "Every year we look at the possibility of purchasing (the building), and every year it looks like it's not within our grasp," Moesta said. "With these funds, it becomes much closer. "I think we are one of the few credit unions that does not and never has owned its own home." She said that even the building purchase would benefit the credit union's members, by eliminating costly lease payments and bolstering the institution's viability with an increase in its net worth. "If you look at the bottom line, it's more affordable for us to be buying the building rather than for us to be leasing the building," Moesta said. O.U.R. Federal Credit Union, which has about 2,700 members, is one of just two financial institutions in Oregon and four in the Northwest to be awarded a Community Development Financial Institutions grant this year. The other Oregon recipient is the Network for Oregon Affordable Housing in Portland. In all, just 48 grants totaling almost $33 million were awarded to 140 applicants from around the country - credit unions, banks, affordable housing corporations and other financial institutions. Only six of this year's recipients were credit unions, and Moesta said that she hopes her institution won't have to apply in future rounds of the federal grant program. "I hope we don't need to," she said. "I hope we become more self-sustaining. But I still think grants are a critical component to the credit union. Obviously, there is a cost associated with serving underserved individuals." According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund Internet site, the grant program was created in 1994 "to invest in and build the capacity of private, for- and nonprofit financial institutions with a primary mission of community development. "These institutions ... are able to respond to gaps in their local markets that traditional financial institutions are not adequately serving." |
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