CU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits #19 Luis Pastor Latino Community Credit Union Durham NC

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Latino Community Credit Union was founded in 2000 in Durham NC when the community was rocked by a wave of robberies - even murders - of Latino workers who were paid in cash and were believed to walk around with their pockets stuffed with cash because they were unbanked.

Enter John Herrera - whom you know from CU 2.0 Podcast 142 - and a handful more helpers and visionaries who founded the credit union which at the time of this recording four years had about $600 million in assets.

Among the early volunteers was Luis Pastor who was in the US from his native Spain because his wife was pursuing graduate school and he had time on his hands. But soon he was offered the job of CEO and he took the offer.

Pastor tells of borrowers who have been deported who are still paying their loans - that seems unthinkable but it is a reality in Durham because this is a credit union that engages in helping people who have been ignored by traditional financial institutions. Extend a helping hand to them and these are people who remember that and value the relationship.

Pastor has a word of advice: "If credit unions are trying to steal members from Bank of America we are going to lose this battle."

Focus instead on the people who really need the services you offer and aren't getting them elsewhere,

Update: Pastor now is retired.  

Listen up.

Along the way, many mentions are made of Jim Blaine, the retired CEO of State Employees' Credit Union of North Carolina. Hear the Blaine podcast here. Read more of Blaine's thinking in this CUInsight blog.  

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