OUR MEMBERS
A Hand Up How the 1199SEIU Credit Union brings members back to financial health.
When family emergency strikes, most people will spend whatever it takes to get them through the tough times and worry about paying the bills later. Like so many 1199 families during the pandemic, Fatima Batista’s family had to deal with multiple tragedies. Two of her uncles—on both her mother’s and her father’s side—were taken by the COVID-19 virus. With her parents still living in the Dominican Republic, and unable to travel because of the pandemic, it fell to Batista to take on the responsibilities associated with bringing her uncles’ bodies back to their homeland for burial. As an 1199 Research Specialist in the clinical office at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, Batista was living paycheck to paycheck. Luckily, she had joined the 1199SEIU Credit Union a few years before. “It was not until this year that I decided I needed help though,” says Batista, “I realized that I was drowning here.” A single mother of a sevenyear-old daughter, she did not qualify for any government help with food or rent. “I’m so thankful for the Credit Union because working people need help too— especially single parents who don’t have that extra support,” she adds. With the help of a $4,000 loan, Batista was able to catch up with her rent and begin to improve her credit score, so that she can buy a home. Credit Union staff were also able to cut her car note in half from $500 to $250 by negotiating a better interest rate. “They really are working for members—finding ways of getting them out of debt, not just get their money. There is really no reason to go to a bank, or even worse, a payday 14
May-June 2022
“They really are working for members. Finding ways of getting them out of debt, not just get their money. There is really no reason to go to a bank, or even worse, a payday lender.” – Fatima Batista, 1199 Research Specialist, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx
Fatima Batista, an 1199 Research Specialist, Montefiore Medical Center, the Bronx.
