WASHINGTON — A grant from the National Credit Union Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Aspen Institute has provided the means to collect research on CUs that have sustainable subprime auto lending programs so that successful strategies can be replicated by other CUs.

The project has a budget of $99,680 that will be funded two-thirds by the NCUF, and a grant of $37,600 from the Casey Foundation to help develop the research, the concept paper, and hold a colloquium in the early part of next year. That convening will allow the findings to be shared and provide a forum for CUs with working programs to show others how to start one. Bill Myers, a fellow at the Aspen Institute and former CEO of Alternatives FCU has begun conducting the research. The Aspen Institute is contributing Myers' time and services.

"Our focus is to first collect the best practices and profile those credit unions," Myers said. "Beyond that, we want to develop a 'tool kit' so that other CUs can follow and expand their bottom lines. I see this as a 'How-to' from Real Solutions and it won't just be features of these loans, but all the associated aspects that makes these programs work effectively, including marketing, staffing and even possible changes in regulations that affect them."