Blogs

We are so fortunate to be getting such wonderful press coverage. KTVU recently aired this segment which goes into detail of how MAF's Cestas Populares work and how MAF is leading the way in formalizing the rich tradition of peer lending in immigrant communities.

Take a look!

I am very excited to share an article by Anne Stuhldreher that ran on the SF Chronicle. Anne captured the spirit and essence of MAF’s innovative credit building peer lending circles, otherwise known as Cestas Populares.

Please read the article below!

San Francisco Chronicle
Traditional lending goes mainstream
By Anne Stuhldreher
April 8, 2009

A whopping 44 percent of Mission District residents don't have low credit scores. They have NO credit scores. Without them, the only loans they can get are the loans no one wants - those with pricey interest rates and harsh terms. And if doors to affordable credit seemed closed to these consumers before the financial meltdown, they're slammed shut now.

Unless, that is, you're friends with someone like Maria del Carmen Torres. In between serving up pupusas and plantain chips at local farmers' markets, she runs an informal lending circle with 12 friends. Every Saturday and Sunday, they stop by her Folsom Street apartment to drop off $200 in cash. And on Mondays the whole pot - $2,600 - goes to one person until everyone has their turn.

El Mensajero, the largest Spanish newspaper in the Bay Area just featured the Mission Asset Fund in an article that describes what an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) is, how to use it and what the benefits for Latino immigrants are.

To read the full article (in Spanish) go to:
http://www.impre.com/elmensajero/noticias/2009/3/29/con-el-itin-puede-pa...