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Great Lakes Credit Union expands initiatives to serve under-banked in Illinois

BANNOCKBURN, IL (January 31, 2020) — Great Lakes Credit Union (GLCU), a Chicago-area based not-for-profit financial cooperative was recently honored by the National Credit Union Association (NCUA) as a certified Low Income Designated credit union. With over fifty-percent of its members across the greater Chicagoland area classified as low-income, GLCU looks forward to leveraging its opportunities to positively impact those in need.

“Families across the greater Chicagoland area are finding it harder than ever to support their families without wide-spread access to affordable financial services”, said Steve Bugg, President, and CEO of GLCU. “We find those negatively impacted often have limited-to-no access to financial literacy programs, pay excessive fees for small- dollar loans and check-cashing services, and often face the inability to obtain loans and checking accounts due to insufficient credit history”.

GLCU is known for helping those from all ends of the financial spectrum; recently being awarded the Illinois Credit union League’s Desjardin award for its youth financial literacy initiative, and recently becoming one of only sixteen credit unions across the country to host a certified Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program to help qualify first-time homebuyers’ with down payment assistance.

Since 1938, GLCU has operated with a mission to help improve the lives of its members and community through charitable efforts and initiatives to bring more affordability to the financial industry. GLCU looks forward to continuing this support by increasing the availability of financial literacy and free counseling programs, increasing access to convenient financial services, and continuing to drive down the cost of financial goods and services. To learn more about GLCU’s ongoing commitment to community initiatives, please visit www.glcu.org/community.

About Great Lakes Credit Union

Founded in 1938 and headquartered in Northern Illinois, GLCU is committed to financial empowerment for you. As a not-for-profit financial cooperative with over $1 billion in assets, GLCU is proud to serve more than 80,000 members in the Chicagoland and surrounding areas. Learn more about GLCU’s accounts, educational initiatives and community development programs at glcu.org