Unbanked Coalition

January 23, 2008
Meeting Notes

Present:
Larry Wilson, Lee Bussell, Ike McLeese, Adam Pilsbury, James Bennett, BJ Linnenbrink, Melissa Carter, Penny King, William Garland, Jr., Clente Flemming,  Erin Hardwick, Jeff Kane, John Baker, Carl Neely, Sharon Duke, Chuck Garnett, JT McLawhorn, Hunter Howard, Brandon Pugh, Steve Fowler, Chuck Sanders, Bob McAllister

Media: Ben Werner, The State; Jerome Collins, WLTX
SCBA: Elisa Edwards, Penny Cothran, Teresa Taylor, Donna Taylor
SCCEE: Helen Meyers, Constance Dyson, Gabi Lemnaru

Action Items

• Establish work groups:

Benchmarks/measurements:
Lee Bussell, Bob McAllister, Melissa Carter, Jeff Kane
            Richland County
                    Number of adult population and households
                    Number of unbanked/underbanked
                     Foreclosure rate

Could SCEG tell us how many customers pay bills with money orders, cash or method other than check or bank draft?

Educational Programs:
Sharon Duke, Elisa Edwards, Robert Dozier, Erin Hardwick, BJ Linnenbrink, Clente Flemming, Penny King, Stephanie Denning, Carl Neely, Brandon Pugh, Penny Cothran
           Schools

• Identify K-12 efforts: what are schools doing for financial literacy

           Banks:

• What type of incentives can be offered to banks for them to take on the risk of working with second chance, unbanked, underbanked
• Create a list of services and products offered by banks: Starter accounts: what are the fees, rules?

          Civic organizations
                        Government agencies
                        Educational institutions
                        Faith community

• Identify existing programs; create online clearinghouse

Employers:
Ike McLeese, Hunter Howard, Sharon Duke, JT McLawhorn, James Bennett

          Small employers can’t afford to have direct deposit

Funding:
John Baker, Larry Wilson, Chuck Sanders, Justin Strickland, Steve Fowler

          Benchmark/measurement
          Website development
          Discussion board
          Clearinghouse
          Coalition administration
          Consumer report and hotline

Strategic Oversight of Coalition:
Adam Pilsbury, Carl Neely, William Garland    

• Use Richland County as test site for 2008

• Develop an online discussion board for the coalition members to communicate with each other
• Create a consumer report

           Banks that offer starter accounts, etc.
           Awareness of the costs of being unbanked, costs of using            check cashing stores

• Create a Richland County consumer hotline
• Need to contact:

            Columbia Housing Authority
            Senator Darryl Jackson
            IRS
            Set up meeting with Larry and Helen and Dean Hildy

• Coalition will meet every other month. Next meeting will be in March.

Would like information on regulatory standards for alternative financial institutions such as Wal Mart