BROOKLYN, N.Y - Polish and Slavic Federal Credit Union has profited by serving a group, many banks consider untouchable - Eastern European immigrants.
The credit union was a single teller station when it was organized in 1977 by a handful of Polish immigrants. Now, with $360 million in assets, three branches, and 37,000 members, it's the largest Polish-American financial institution in the country.
"We serve people who have problems with regular financial institutions because they don't speak English or they don't speak it fluently enough," said Marcin Sar, the institution's general manager since 1987. "Most of the time, new immigrants don't have a credit history. Someone has to make that first step to trust them."
Up to 90% of the credit union's members are immigrants, officials said.
Almost since its founding, Polish and Slavic's primary line of business has been putting members in homes. This was crucial in the beginning because many institutions avoided lending to the Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood, where the institution and most of its members are located, Mr. Sar said.
"Analysts thought this area would go under," he said. They predicted "it would become a very, very bad area. Lending to this neighborhood was considered an unnecessary risk."
The credit union saw things differently.
"People knew each other. It's a …
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