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It also offers services
that you won’t get at your local bank such as bill payments
and credit counseling. But what really distinguishes TUFCU
from the rest, is the sheer determination of the people
behind it to offer a better financial life to the community
they serve even if the methods are unconventional and it
involves going the extra mile.
“We begin with prayer,”
says TUFCU CEO Suzette Cowell. Cowell, one of the founders
of TUFCU, is quick to point out that in actuality the
credit union is the result of many prayers, much hard work
and the strong desire of city leaders and business owners to
see residents of the community treated with fairness.
“I worked at a bank both
as a teller and in the compliance department,” Cowell says.
“When loan applications came in they would first look at the
zip codes and then they would turn down the application. I
prayed that there would be a financial institution that
would consider a person by credit worthiness.”
That opportunity came at a
meeting that stemmed from a 1992 shooting incident. During
that meeting an eight-point community development plan was
discussed. The credit union was on that list.
According to Cowell, they
canvassed the community to test the climate and the possible
receptivity for a credit union, and what they learned was
that many people did not have any relationship with a
financial institution, didn’t trust banks and many kept
their money at home.
After, Cowell forged a
partnership with Bishop Duane C. Tisdale, and TUFCU was
launched at the nurses’ station of Friendship Baptist
Church.
“We were set up at the
nurses’ station in Friendship,” says Cowell. “We would open
accounts during service.” But soon the membership began to
grow and so did the need for a larger space.
Cowell says that in 1996,
former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner
came to the credit union’s charter
signing, saw how large the crowds were and offered the
current Dorr Street location.
And in July
1996 TUFCU opened Ohio’s first community credit union in
eight years.
The move proved to be a
mixed blessing because, although the credit union had room
to grow and accept more members, that growth placed a strain
on credit union staff.
“We grew too fast,” says
Cowell. “We went from about 700 members 1n 1996 to 2100
members that same year.” Cowell remembers how overwhelmed
they were with transactions and the sheer volume of
memberships. “We had people beating on the doors wanting to
start accounts. We had two staff members and we couldn’t
take lunch breaks or return phone calls,” she says. “There
was one man who came and just stood outside of the door
because he was afraid to come in.” That man is now a member
of the credit union and his story is only one of many during
those early years.
The rapid growth, Cowell
says, also contributed to the difficulty she and her staff
had in obtaining a charter from the National Credit Union
Administration. Getting licensing from NCUA was crucial
because it would provide financial security to credit union
members.
“Those who held the
charter were reluctant,” she says. “We had a meeting with
regulation representatives, and 32 pastors in Bishop
Tisdale’s office, and those representatives gave us a
one-hour talk on the cons about the survival of a credit
union in this community.” Cowell says that the regulation
committee initially believed that the credit union was too
aggressive with lending practices and was taking too much of
a risk.
Eventually the credit
union did get the charter and Cowell says that she has no
regrets. “Our members are some of the most loyal I’ve seen,
“she says. “A few years ago during the big financial crisis
99 percent of members who filed bankruptcy have come back to
pay us.”
Cowell says that today
TUFCU has more than 3300 members and $23 million in assets
that have gone back into the community, mainly through
non-predatory lending. Cowell also gives much credit to
TUfCU employees, its board of directors, community leaders,
pastors and the financial institutions, including Huntington
Bank and Fifth Third Bank, who have supported the agency
from the beginning. “These people have not only been there
from the start, but they believe in this community,” she
says.
TUFCU is primed to make
another move and take another leap forward as the plans gel
for a new building on the southwest corner of Dorr and
Detroit. Last week, Toledo City Council approved a community
reinvestment area real property tax exemption for the
construction of the new facility. Coming soon on the site is
a new 3,200 square foot building which will greatly expand
convenience of service for TUFCU members.
Frances Smith has believed
in what TUFCU is doing for the community since the
beginning. Smith, board president for the past two years
also owns her own Toledo-based company, Smith Travel and
Tours.
“I started assisting
Suzette when she was gathering signatures at Friendship, and
became her secretary,” Smith says. “What really impressed
me, and how I got sold into the credit union was seeing how
people were being helped. There was a young man who had been
turned down for an auto loan consistently. He could not get
credit. Suzette looked at his credit report and saw that the
reason he was being denied was that his mother had done what
many mothers in that situation do. She put her utilities in
his name. Suzette worked with this young man, contacting the
credit bureaus and explaining that he could not have had
utilities in his name as a minor. They were finally able to
get this young man’s credit straightened out and he was able
to get a car loan.”
Edwin Mabrey, another
long-time board member puts it this way “The credit union is
the hub of what is happening in this city, It is also a hub
for financial growth, community involvement and the
development of black businesses,” he says. “We are the only
community developmental credit union in Ohio, but we are not
your typical credit union. We deal with individuals who are
having difficulty paying back loans. We sit with them and
work out their options. And when someone dies, it’s the
family who comes to us for help to bury that person whether
they are members of the credit union or not.”
Mabrey has been a part of
TUFCU since 1996, and started his own salon, Genesis, that
same year. He became involved because he was concerned with
the decline of black business development in Toledo.
Smith and Mabrey say that
their duties as board members include: deciding what
direction the credit union is going, setting interest rates,
overseeing memberships and insuring that NCUA policies are
followed.
But their mission is clear
“Our mission is to turn people around so they can become
credit worthy, and to teach people about their credit,” says
Smith. |
