Search for yourself!
If you'd like to find out more about "financial deserts" in the U.S, here's a great interactive "Dashboard" [link] you should investigate.
✅ Note a couple of things: 1) the map data includes both bank and credit union branches; so for whatever reason, credit unions have not stepped up to serve these "deserts" in the past with local offices; 2) there are three categories of "deserts" - urban (no branch within 2 miles), suburban (no branch within 5 miles), rural (no branch within 10 miles); 3) there are more urban deserts (66%), than suburban deserts (20%), with rural having the least! (14%). The "cure" for fixing a desert is to locate a physical branch in the area.
😎 The Carolinas' Credit Union League in H.187 appears to be committing to the Legislature that North Carolina state-chartered credit unions will "cure" these financial deserts - at least in rural North Carolina.
That appears to mean CCUL is pledging that state-chartered credit unions will open new, additional branches in each of these rural deserts. Remember that the Fed map above includes all existing credit union branches - so new physical branches will need to be added to meet the CCUL commitment.
It also appears reasonable that some sort of regulatory reporting by credit unions would be required to verify that progress is being made in solving the financial desert problem in North Carolina.
All banks have - since 1977! - been required to report annually on their service to disadvantaged communities - and to submit to regulatory exams to validate their impact. The reporting and exam falls under what's called the Community Reinvestment Act ("CRA").
✅ CCUL and state-chartered credit unions should see this "CRA-type" requirement coming and prepare. The banking industry has long said if credit unions want to be like banks with open membership and commercial lending, then the same rules should apply
With H.187, "I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore!"
