From Financial Integrity

Self-Help Credit Union - Socially responsible investing for community development

Founded in 1980, Self-Help is a non-profit, member-owned credit union that offers and advocates for responsible financial services for everyone. At Self-Help, we are creating and protecting ownership and economic opportunity for people of color, women, rural residents and low-wealth families and communities. Deposits in Self-Help Credit Union are used to fund home mortgages and small business loans for those who are underserved by conventional financial institutions. Deposits also fund loans for affordable housing development, charter schools, child care centers, environmentally sustainable initiatives, and other projects that promote community economic development.

As a a nonprofit community development lender, real estate developer, and credit union, our mission is to create and protect ownership and economic opportunity through financing for home ownership, small businesses, and community facilities; downtown revitalization and affordable housing development; and by providing responsible consumer financial services for its members. Our experience has disproved the common rationale that low-wealth families are inherently high-risk borrowers, reducing a traditional barrier to economic stability. Self-Help has provided $5.6 billion of financing to more than 64,000 low-wealth families, small businesses and nonprofit organizations across the country, and manages 19 retail credit union branches, serving more than 50,000 members in North Carolina and California. Federally insured deposits in our credit unions strengthen communities nationwide.

Deposits in our credit union are an essential component of Self-Help’s funding mix, financing both the creation of wealth and the accumulation of assets in low- to moderate-income communities. Deposits are also the simplest way for individuals and organizations to use their resources in support of Self-Help’s work. All deposits are federally insured, and we offer competitive rates on CDs, money market and checking accounts, and IRAs.

Visit Self-Help’s website for more information and resources.