COMMON
WEALTH
ATHENS
Our Impact
CWA's definition of success is our clients' attainment of financial stability through the mastery of important financial concepts, access to affordable financial services, improvement of credit scores, and growth in assets. Our program has been carefully designed to ensure we capture required data to quantify impact in each of these areas. The outcomes measured by CWA are:
1. Credit Score improvement
2. Increase in overall financial literacy
3. CWA Loan repayment / default rates
4. Number of CWA loan recipients who open a checking/savings bank account
5. Percent of loan recipients who create a viable budget to sustain living costs
The Ark loan program (CWA) has now been in existence for 4 years and holds an impressive 90% repayment rate with the same population targeted by title pawn shops and without holding any kind of collateral or threat of repossession. Through our partnership with Georgia United Credit Union, our current loan program offers a 6-month, Ark-backed loan at 3% interest regardless of credit score. Each loan holder completes an in-depth budget and credit counseling session before and throughout the loan to ensure maximum success and they may access the loan as many times as needed as long as the loan is repaid. Unlike title loans, Ark loans do report to the 3 major credit bureaus which can provide a much-needed credit boost to participant’s scores. Many Ark loan holders have gone on to refinance cars and even procure mortgages after seeing a significant boost in their creditworthiness in just1-2 years.
Over the last 4 years, the Ark has shifted from focusing on refinancing title loans to replacing the need for them by offering small loans for unexpected expenses coupled with financial education in key subjects such as personal finance management, credit repair, and successful banking. We have administered 129 loans for a total of over $81,000 with a 90% repayment rate!