Great Lakes Credit Union forges into the forefront of foreclosure counseling
Counselors adapt to pandemic restrictions as the Chicago credit union expands its HUD-funded housing counseling program.
When Great Lakes Credit Union($886.2M, Bannockburn, IL) merged in tiny North Side Community Federal Credit Unionlast year, GLCU did more than assume approximately $9 million in assets, 3,000 members, and a branch in downtown Chicago. The big cooperative also took on the responsibility of operating a HUD-certified, grant-funded housing and financial education program that is one of fewer than 20 in existence across the country.
What’s more, GLCU has since expanded the program and now considers it part of the credit union’s fundamental mission to financially strengthen vulnerable members of its community. Today, GLCU’s education and housing counseling department now works separately from the cooperative’s other financial wellness and literacy programs. It has its own HUD-certified staff working through its 12-branch network around Chicago with guidance from the smaller credit union’s former CEO who now serves as GLCU’s chief development officer
Neighborhoods already economically stressed are considered particularly vulnerable to the business shutdowns and job losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The work, however, goes on at GLCU.
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