SouthCoast Federal Credit Union in New Bedford, Massachusetts, will now open accounts for immigrants that do not have social security numbers.

The $66 million-asset organization is collaborating with the Community Economic Development Center and offering CEDC clients who have a passport and proof of address the ability to bank with SouthCoast.

Most financial institutions require a social security number prior to opening an account or approving a loan.

SouthCoast CEO Duarte Silva told the New Bedford Light he feels a connection to the immigrant community because of his heritage – he is a first-generation American with a Portuguese father and a Brazilian mother.

“We try to be there for our members,” he said.

The CEDC clients, who come primarily from Central America, can open a SouthCoast account with as little as $25.

Claudia Camara, the credit union’s mortgage advisor, said those members can get a credit card by making a security deposit. The card allows the member to use their own funds in debit and credit transactions.

The account also allows members to cash their paychecks without having to go to a store or a payday lender and pay high fees, Camara said.

After the account is a year old, the member is eligible to apply for a car loan, she said. In two years, they can apply for a home loan.

“We are building trust with the Hispanic community,” Camara said.

Corinn Willliams, executive director of the CEDC, told the news outlet it is important for immigrants to establish a credit record

And SouthCoast is not alone in its work with the immigrant community.

Maria Martinez, president and CEO of $243 million-asset Border Federal Credit Union in Del Rio, Texas, told Tyfone members with an individual taxpayer identification number can open an account and apply for loans.

An ITIN is a tax processing number only available for certain nonresident and resident aliens, their spouses and dependents who cannot get a social security number.

Martinez said “just a handful” of the credit union’s 27,500 members have joined with an ITIN rather than a SSN.

“Because of our geographic location, being so close to the border, undocumented individuals don’t stay in our town,” Martinez said. “They migrate into the big metropolitan cities where they can find jobs; therefore they don’t have a need for an account in our community.”

Martinez said there are many other credit unions that open hundreds of ITIN accounts in bigger cities. One of the credit unions that is known for the practice is the $1 billion-asset Latino Community Credit Union in Durham, North Carolina.

Through the National Association of Latino Credit Unions & Professionals, Border FCU will be hosting an ITIN “best practices” school in November to touch on opening accounts and lending to ITIN holders, who typically make up most of the undocumented people in the U.S., Martinez said.

SouthCoast, which has 4,500 members, earned roughly $233,000 through the second quarter of 2024, a 71% decrease compared to a year earlier, according to call report data from the National Credit Union Administration.