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CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE
A Letter from
Joe Coleman Thank you for visiting the official website of the Financial Service Centers of America. FiSCA is a national trade association that represents more than 6,500 neighborhood financial service outlets across the United States. For more than 60 years, financial service centers have offered local communities quick, convenient and reliable access to the financial services Americans want and need. We serve millions of Americans, and our customers include individuals that have relationships with banks as well as those that do not. The core of our businesses is based on a simple idea: provide a safe and easy way for hard working people to convert paychecks into cash within a convenient distance from their homes or jobs. Over the years financial service centers have grown to offer a wide array of financial services. Customers now count on FiSCA members for money orders, electronic bill payments, money wire transfers, automatic teller machine access, government benefit and payroll payments, deferred deposit services, stored value cards, electronic tax preparation, public transportation fare and token sales, motor vehicle license plate and title distribution, postage stamp sales and numerous other services. Our newest product offerings include the NetSpend National Savings Program. This first-of-its-kind savings program offers an interest-bearing, federally-insured savings account linked to a prepaid branded Visa/MasterCard debit card. We have also launched a partnership with PRBC (Payment Reporting Builds Credit). Through the “FiSCA/PRBC Credit File Building Program,” FiSCA’s members will be able to help their customers build their credit history by voluntarily reporting the financial transactions they’ve been making at member locations on a regular basis, such as bill payments. This will enable users of credit reports and scores to have a more complete picture of an applicant’s creditworthiness. Many people wonder why consumers use a FiSCA member outlet instead of a bank or a credit union. The answer is simple: we provide the liquidity, access, and service that our customers need. Our customers appreciate the convenient access and high quality services we offer. We fit into their busy lives, with most FiSCA member stores open six or seven days a week. Almost all of our members are open many more hours than traditional banks, some even stay open 24 hours a day. Consumers are very willing to pay reasonable fees for this type of convenience and recognize that we offer good value. In many cases it is less expensive to use one of our outlets than to use a bank. In fact, 60 percent of FiSCA member customers have a traditional savings or checking account at a bank or credit union, yet choose to conduct their financial transactions at our member locations. That is why so many of our members have grown in recent years and why we have such loyal customers. Studies conducted by the U.S. Treasury Department, universities and independent researchers have all found that consumers make a purposeful choice and elect to use financial service centers for specific reasons: better service, convenient access and lower costs. The customer satisfaction scores received by FiSCA members are remarkably high and any bank, credit union, brokerage house or other financial institution would be proud to have them. They confirm that consumers are electing to use FiSCA member outlets for some pretty good reasons and that we are doing a very good job. These results make me proud to be a part of the industry, and I salute all of my fellow business owners and their staffs that deliver this type of service every day to millions of Americans. To expand choice and access to financial services, FiSCA is assisting members in building partnerships with banks and credit unions to bring additional products and services to consumers. Working in concert with state and federal regulators, FiSCA believes the bricks and mortar infrastructure created by our members is the most effective and least costly way of expanding consumer access to services. I invite you to visit the various sections of this website and to contact us with any questions that you may have. Financial independence and freedom of choice go hand in hand. It’s why our industry got started, and it’s why we’re in business today.
Sincerely,
Joe Coleman
P.S. As you
peruse the website, don't miss the
Press Area with news on various FiSCA programs, including
FiSCA's efforts to halt the unwarranted discriminatory closures of
financial service center accounts by banks. You can review FiSCA’s
position on
federal legislation that was introduced on
Capitol Hill to address this problem of
bank discontinuance. The FiSCA Codes of Conduct govern best practices and ethical guidelines for our members. The Codes of Conduct are important for the financial service center industry because it puts into writing the approach and practices that FiSCA members already use on a daily basis when serving customers. FiSCA, through a partnership with BankersEdge and generous sponsorship from MoneyGram, is offering its members an On-Line Compliance training program. The courses are designed to provide rigorous anti-money laundering training for tellers and management, and conform with the USA PATRIOT ACT requirements. FiSCA has also developed Compliance Manuals to meet government regulations relating to our industry, including the U.S. PATRIOT Act. These guidelines have been provided to FiSCA members, but are also available for a fee to non-members. FiSCA also invites you to read, "Check Cashers Are Good Bank Customers," a brochure designed to acquaint bankers with the check cashing business. Topics covered include products and services offered, how check cashers distribute financial services to many under-served communities, explaining that Check Cashers do not launder money, and dispelling other misperceptions about check cashers. |
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