Premier Federal Credit Union was one of only forty-four credit unions nationwide, and one of only four credit unions in the state of North Carolina, to receive a share of the more than $132,000,000 in Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund’s FY2019 Financial Assistance Grants. Additionally, Premier was one of only sixteen credit unions nationwide honored as a first time awardee.
Premier currently operates seven full-service branches in North Carolina and one branch in South Carolina. The $565,000 award will be utilized towards the launch of a new branch located in Asheboro in Randolph County, and will support the deployment of $7.2 million of new loans to residents in the county over the next three years. Premier’s focus is to assist consumers that are typically victims of predatory lenders as well as those that need to rebuild or establish credit history. “We are so pleased to join an elite group of national CDFI credit unions to receive this award. It is our vision to create economic empowerment in the communities that we serve and this award will enable us to make a difference in the lives of more consumers.” said Lori Thompson, President/CEO of Premier.
Premier partnered with Susan Brunner and Associates, LLC to assist with the grant application process. “We would not have received this award without the assistance of Susan Brunner, Sarah Taylor and the team at Inclusiv”, said Thompson. “Representative Mark Walker’s local staff also played a crucial role in assisting us with obtaining information we needed to meet the application deadline and we are grateful for their help.”
The new branch will offer convenient accessibility to safe, low-cost financial products for the local members and an opportunity for area employers to provide credit union services as an employee benefit. Premier will begin the search for the branch location in the first quarter of 2020.