Unique Program Here Helps to Break Barriers to Banking
Bank on Central Oregon is a new program led by the Partnership's Asset Development Director, Sarah Holtzclaw.
By Patrick Cliff / The Bulletin
Published: July 27. 2009 4:00AM PST
More than 30,000 Central Oregonians don’t have bank accounts, but a new program to help them is set to launch at the end of August.
Bank on Central Oregon is an outreach program designed to help low-income people open accounts. Similar programs already exist in several big cities, including Seattle and San Francisco.
But Central Oregon’s version may be the first of its kind in a rural area, according to Sarah Holtzclaw, the director of asset development at the Partnership to End Poverty.
Barriers to banking are more perceived than real, Holtzclaw said. Most banks have free checking accounts, for example, but people still worry about fees, she said.
Yet those same people often end up swamped by the cost of not having an account, according to Holtzclaw, who is organizing Bank on Central Oregon. Low-income people can spend hundreds of dollars each year on fees associated with check-cashing services and on cashier’s checks used to pay their bills, Holtzclaw said.
“It’s quite expensive to not have a bank account,” Holtzclaw said.
Judith Olsen, a community development officer with Wells Fargo, agreed. Families who haven’t banked in generations often avoid banks and therefore can’t access loans and credit, Olsen said.
“Programs like this build strong communities,” Olsen said. “If you don’t have access to banks, you can’t buy a home, you can’t save money for education.”
About 32,000 people in the region don’t have bank accounts, Holtzclaw said. Holtzclaw hopes to help at least 3,200 of those people, or 10 percent, sign up for bank accounts over the next two years.
Under the program, people will know where to find checking accounts with no minimum balance requirements and minimum opening deposits of $50 or less. Overdraft fees would be waived one time each year, according to program criteria.
Some of the participating banks and credit unions may offer incentives for taking a personal finance class. Other banks might offer automatic savings programs, free online banking and direct deposit.
Banks in the program will have stickers on their doors so people can find them, and local nonprofits will promote it, Holtzclaw said. The nonprofits may be able to reach people who normally don’t trust banks, Holtzclaw said.
“It’s an outreach tool to encourage people to get back into the financial system,” Holtzclaw said. “There’s a lot of times people are just scared. They might investigate it if it’s coming from the people in contact with low-income people all the time.”
Holtzclaw has presented the program to banks and credit unions across the region. Participants won’t be finalized until the program’s launch, but Holtzclaw estimated 85 percent of the region’s bank branches have joined.
Mid Oregon Credit Union may participate, according to Kyle Frick, vice president of marketing and community relations.
“We definitely support all of those efforts in any way, shape and form we can,” Frick said. “Most of these things are just part of what we do on a day-to-day basis.”
Holtzclaw has recruited larger banks, too.
Local Wells Fargo branches will participate, Olsen said. Wells Fargo already has taken part in similar programs in several cities, including San Francisco.
Olsen said the bank hasn’t changed its services for low-income customers.
“I think we have to remember that low income only means they have less money,” Olsen said. “It doesn’t mean they have low credit. It doesn’t mean they don’t pay their bills. It means they have less money.”
Patrick Cliff can be reached at 541-633-2161 or at pcliff@bendbulletin.com