JFS Ways to Work issues 100th loan

SAN DIEGO (Press Release) – Jewish Family Service’s Ways to Work program announced that it  has issued its 100^th loan since the program began in San Diego in 2012. Ways to Work provides low-interest car loans and education to credit-challenged, working families. The program allows for families to have a better quality of life and to become more independent.

Ways to Work closed its first loan in October of 2012 and closed its 100^th loan on July 24, 2014. In this time, they have provided 100 San Diego families with reliable transportation to get to work, school, day care, run errands, and more. Ways to Work has seen tremendous interest in the program and plans to help another 100 families in the next year and a half – slightly ahead of the national average loan production. Additionally, the Ways to Work program at JFS has an average delinquency rate of 20% and default rate of 3%, well below the national averages of 35% and 10%, respectively.

Transportation in San Diego is a challenge without a personal vehicle. A typical worker can only reach 30% of all metro-area jobs within a 90-minute commute. Most of the borrowers report that, before getting their Ways to Work car, they would leave their home by 6am every day and return around 8:00pm. Now, most leave home after 7am and are home by 6pm.

“Fundamentally, Ways to Work is an economic empowerment program that offers families financial education and financing for a reliable car, but it provides much more than that; we give parents a sense of security and families a chance to spend more quality time together,” said Ellen Broudy, Program & Loan Specialist at Ways to Work. “Over the past 2 years, many borrowers have told me that they now have access to better job opportunities, their children participate in more after-school activities, and that there’s more laughter and less stress.”

Ways to Work is a unique Community Development Financial Institution. Through a network of loan offices across the country, Ways to Work provides financial education and small, short-term, low-interest loans to working families with challenging credit histories. Ways to Work is a program of Jewish Family Service and is generously supported by the United Way of San Diego County and Walmart Growth Fund.

For more information on Jewish Family Service’s Ways to Work program, please visit www.jfssd.org

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Preceding provided by Jewish Family Service