Building credit in Indian Country

RAPID CITY – Discussing money and finances in homes has been a taboo for many generations. A program in Rapid City has been helping family members to understand financial literacy and bring credit scores to a place that makes them eligible for home and business loans.

Anna LeBeau (Omaha Nation) has been living in Rapid City for the past seven years. She has been the Executive Director of Black Hills Community Loan Fund since July, 2015. Formerly known as the Teton Coalition, Black Hills Community Loan Fund was established to help individuals prepare for home ownership. “My guess is within that organization, they also saw a need for their clients to have access to credit, and access to mortgages,” said LeBeau. Teton Financial was established as part of Teton Coalition to help with the financial needs of clients.

“When you’re working with clients like we have, that are high risk, it required a little bit more attention. It’s that technical assistance, that coaching, that justifies that need for a CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution),” she said.  “It’s my understanding that Teton Financial would eventually branch off to become its own entity and ultimately that’s what happened. Instead of keeping the name Teton Financial, it became Black Hills Community Loan Fund.”

Although BHCLF has been active in Rapid City for the past ten years, many families does not know of their existence and extensive help offered through their program. “It’s difficult for us because there is a lot of competition in this market here in Rapid City. What makes us stand out is that we are a Native organization. We focus on the Native community members that are lower to middle income and that typically don’t have access to credit within commercial lenders at a regular bank.”

According to LeBeau, another thing that makes BHCLF stand out amongst its competitors is the financial education curriculum they offer clients. This curriculum is designed with Native American culture in mind. This financial literacy ties in culture from the past and the present to help clients understand their financial binds. “The home buyers education curriculum that we use is also for the Native American community; Pathways to Home Ownership, that curriculum they discuss different programs that are for Native American families,” said LeBeau.

The entrepreneurship program they offer uses a business development course titled “Indianpreneurship.” This also ties in culture and traditional practices to help clients understand business. She says, “It allows our clients to not have to think in a non-Indian way. Even though, that’s how we are living and functioning, it allows us to maintain our culture while practicing the non-Indian way.”

LeBeau says Native American culture has a tradition of not discussing finances and money or how bills get paid. She believes this has been intergenerational and continues to this day. She feels families benefit from openly discussing finances. This transparency prepares youth for a more realistic view of the financial world outside of the home. It affects everything from getting a loan to getting a job.

“When they created this organization, it was for home ownership. The first type of loan products they created were for home mortgages, down payments, and costs to buy a home; home rehab, home repair. Since then, we’ve added a home appliance loan,” she said. This loan comes at a lower interest rate than other companies.

“Most recently, we created a microloan program for small businesses. The first step in looking at those loans is building credit. If we see that there is bad debt on their credit report, we’ll recommend that they pay that off first. That way it will have a positive impact on their credit score. We’ll work with our clients and get them used to paying on their debts on a regular basis; paying off that debt and then coming back for the next type of loan,” said LeBeau.

BHCLF offers a financial literacy class twice per month on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. If clients are unable to attend these classes, they can schedule an appointment during the day to take these classes. “We also have a working relationship with Consumer Credit Counseling. They teach Credit Where Credit Is Due. We accept that in lieu of our financial education class. Every individual that takes a loan with us has to have a financial education,” said LeBeau.

“Same thing with our home ownership loans, we have the Pathways to Home Ownership. This goes through the stages of buying a home, affordability, how much of a payment are they going to have, what do they need to do in order to prepare for buying a home, the application process, how to talk to their lender, and the various programs that are available for home lending,” she said. “It goes through all of those details as well.”

Some of the clients of BHCLF have gone through the Habitat for Humanity program and have received plenty of financial education. Still, there is past debt that lingers and must be taken care of before they can close on a home loan. BHCLF will help these individuals with a consolidated debt loan.

The staff of BHCL will soon all be certified in all of the classes offered, including the Indianpeneurship class. “The end result of that class is they end up with a business plan. We basically get them to the point where they’re able to take that business plan, whether it’s to us for a business loan or to another entity to request a loan,” she said.  “With what regard as a success here, it’s not necessarily that they received a loan from us but that they have become loan ready.”

One of LeBeau’s success stories comes from an individual who had no credit history, and through her program and navigation of the process, she was able to help him establish an atypical credit report. “One that wasn’t from one of the credit bureaus but we was able to prove with receipts and show that he makes payments on a regular basis. He was able to make a loan on a car with a decent interest rate,” she said. This individual was making payments over several months on a buffalo robe and had receipts of his payments. This established a form of credit, atypical credit.

“Being able to see our clients find success in this manner is why we are here. Anyone that has the desire to buy a home, establish a business, or if they know three or four years down the line this is one of their goals then we can help them get prepared for their goal,” said LeBeau.

For more information on Black Hills Community Loan Fund and to set up an appointment to learn more, visit blackhillsloanfund.wixsite.com/mysite.

(Contact Native Sun News Today Correspondent Richie Richards at richie4175@gmail.com)

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