“Just Right” Small-Dollar Credit Products by Center for Community Self-Help

What features of a small-dollar credit product intended for traditionally underserved borrowers will promote responsibility and sustainability?

Center for Community Self-Help’s (Self-Help) “Just Right” line of small-dollar credit (SDC) products was designed to test features of SDC products offered to clients as affordable and safe credit options. It was made available alongside the many small-dollar products that Self-Help already provides. The organization offered the “Just Right” term loan and “Just Right” line of credit—products that provided customers with up to $1,000 in borrowing capacity—through its network of 19 California Self-Help Federal Credit Union branches. Self-Help employed traditional, streamlined and alternative underwriting methods in issuing loans, with the goal of uncovering the most cost-effective methods to responsibly assess borrowers’ ability to repay a loan.