ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar will provide the keynote address at NCUA Board Member Deborah Matz' upcoming Partnering and Leadership Successes workshop on alternatives to predatory lending. "This PALS workshop is an opportunity for credit unions to share innovative programs to attract new members and to prevent their members and communities from being victimized by predatory lenders," Matz commented. "I am enormously pleased that Chairman Dollar, architect of NCUA's Access Across America initiative, will share his perspectives on this important issue in a keynote address." "America's credit unions are certainly part of the solution to offering an alternative to the pawnshop-payday lending cycle so many folks in underserved neighborhoods find themselves trapped in today," Dollar said. "The best practices and successes of credit unions on the front lines of offering lower-cost alternatives to many of these higher-cost loans can be of tremendous benefit to other credit unions that are looking for proven and innovative ways to extend their outreach to more Americans who need these alternatives." The free workshop is slated for Jan. 26 in Dallas, Texas and will be co-hosted by NAFCU, the Texas Credit Union League, and the Texas Credit Union Foundation. It will address payday loan alternatives, affordable homeownership financing, risk-based lending, financial education, and several other related topics.