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California, Greater Chicago & Milwaukee

Reaching New Communities in Need

In 2008, we began service in California with Self-Help Federal Credit Union. Self-Help Federal has grown through mergers with community-focused credit unions in the Bay Area and Central Valley. In Los Angeles, we acquired five stores from a conventional check casher and converted them into a hybrid check casher/credit union model that serves unbanked and underbanked consumers.

When federal regulators closed Second Federal Savings and Loan in the Chicago area, Self-Help partnered with local community organizations to keep its branches open and assist customers. Late in 2012, Self-Help Federal acquired Second Federal, continuing service to 14,000 predominantly Latino depositors and borrowers.

Our Impact in California and Greater Chicago

  • Within only six years, serving more than 80,000 credit union members and customers from 22 branches
  • Reaching diverse communities, including an African-American neighborhood in Oakland, agricultural workers in Califonia's Central Valley, Latino neighborhoods in San Francisco and greater Chicago, and migrant farmworkers in Florida
  • Delivering more than 16,000 personal and auto loans, helping many borrowers avoid predatory lenders
  • Providing affordable home loans to our California and Chicago markets, closing 1,000 loans within first three years
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Delores Huerta joins us at the ribbon-cutting for Self-Help Federal Credit Union's Mission District branch in San Francisco. Ms Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association and the United Farm Workers Credit Union - the latter is now part of the SHFCU family.