Culturally relevant financial capability programs are crucial for unlocking economic potential for Latinos and other diverse communities of color. Individuals who are new to the US financial system and those who have limited English proficiency face barriers to conducting basic financial transactions, building a credit history, accumulating savings, and accessing credit on fair and affordable terms.
NALCAB works with members to create and strengthen financial education programs that build knowledge and help consumers understand credit and credit scores, access financial services and products, and avoid predatory practices.
What We Do
NALCAB provides grants, technical assistance and training to help organizations implement or expand the integration of financial capability services into existing asset building programs. Support is focused on helping organizations to
- Effectively utilize a high-quality and culturally-relevant financial capability curriculum
- Utilize financial coaching to prepare clients to access capital for asset building activities and/or innovative financial products in order to make measurable impacts on family assets
- Strengthen organizational capacity to track and report financial capability-related outcomes, with a focus on building credit, increasing savings, and reducing debt
- Connect to nationally recognized resources to enhance program effectiveness, including learning from and sharing with a peer network
- Plan for program sustainability
Current Project Highlights
Studies have shown that 45% of individuals in low income neighborhoods are credit invisible, facing obstacles to realizing their full economic potential. Unlike homeowners, renters do not ‘get credit’ on their credit report for making monthly housing payments.
Through the Rent Reporting for Credit Building program, eight affordable housing providers in the NALCAB network are working to begin reporting rental payments to credit agencies and enhance their financial coaching services. The goal is to provide affordable housing residents with an opportunity to build credit history and financial capability skills, ultimately helping them meet their financial goals and stay ahead in today’s economy.
A 2017 NALCAB pilot project with four organizations saw credit scores increase by an average of 31-45 points, and the maximum score increased by 215 points. These early results show rent reporting for credit building is a powerful tool for organizations to help people in low- and moderate-income communities to build credit as an asset on a large scale. NALCAB looks forward to expanding access to this tool to the NALCAB network and beyond.
NALCAB’s technical assistance is provided in partnership with the Credit Builders Alliance, and this project is made possible with support from The Prudential Foundation.
For more information on NALCAB’s Financial Capability work, please contact Associate Director of Financial Capability, Brenda Jimenez at bjimenez@nalcab.org.