OneUnited Bank welcomes Senior Banking CRA Specialist Marcia Barry-Smith, introduces the unity home loan

OneUnited Bank welcomes Senior Banking CRA Specialist Marcia Barry-Smith, introduces the unity home loan

       OneUnited Bank is proud to welcome senior banking consultant Marcia Barry-Smith who has over 30 years of high level banking experience in South Florida. Barry-Smith will be responsible for rolling out One-United’s UNITY Home Loan Program, an exclusive loan pro-gram to accommodate first time homebuyers of low to moderate income and/or for property in low to moderate income census tracts in Miami-Dade County.

OneUnited Bank’s engagement with Barry-Smith is expected to elevate the Bank’s CRA focus and results, while offering a successful specialty home loan program through its Miami branch. With her three decades of experience in banking, Barry-Smith is fluent in branch acquisitions, loan servicing, loan origination, and community reinvestment. It is these credentials paired with her keen knowledge of South Florida’s multi-cultural communities and passion for public and motivational speaking, that makes OneUnited Bank President Teri Williams confident in her decision to add Barry-Smith to the OneUnited Bank team.

“We are excited to add Marcia Barry-Smith’s expertise to better serve the needs of the Miami-Dade County,” says Teri Williams, president and chief operating officer. “She has already had an impact with the introduction of the UNITY Home Loan Program.”

Barry-Smith’s first order of business will be to launch the UNITY Home Loan, a 30 year, fixed-rate loan in Miami-Dade County. In order to quality for this loan product, which has a minimum loan amount of$ 40,000, buyers must provide a 3 percent down payment, with at least 1 percent from their own funds. Grant money or a gift from a relative may be added to buyers’ own funds to meet the 3 percent requirement. If grant funds are involved, subsidy maximum purchase price guidelines will apply. Qualifying properties for the loan program are owner-occupied, single family residences and condominiums in Miami-Dade County.

Interested borrowers may meet Barry-Smith and hear more about the UNITY Home Loan program at the free H2H Miami Homebuyer’s Club on April 28, 2015 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Belafonte TACOLCY Center (6161 NW 9th Avenue, Miami, FL 33127) during which professionals will show consumers how a security deposit, first and last month’s rent over an extended period of time is equivalent to the down payment on a home. It is Williams’ hope that through these monthly events and the UNITY Home Loan Program, One-United can increase Miami-Dade residents’ awareness in the possibility of becoming a homeowner.

Nationwide, OneUnited Bank is announcing its Fifth Annual I Got Bank! Essay Contest to promote financial literacy for youth. Middle school students from across the country between the ages of eight and 12 are encouraged to read I Got Bank!, or a similar financial book of their choosing, and write a 250-word essay about how they would apply what they learned from the book to their lives. Submissions must be emailed or postmarked by June 15, 2015. The bank will choose three winners and award them a $1,000 OneUnited Bank savings account by August 31, 2015. For more information, please visit: www.oneunited.com/book.

Teri Williams, OneUnited Bank, president and author of I Got Bank! wrote the book when she found that there weren’t any books geared to-ward educating urban youth about finances. “I am very excited that there is more focus on financial literacy today than five years ago when we launched our essay contest,” said Williams. “Many organizations – including other banks – are offering financial literacy work-shops for adults and kids.” Williams has held numerous financial workshops at schools and community organizations throughout the country.

OneUnited Bank (www.oneunited.com), a Minority Depository Institution (MDI) and a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), has received the Bank Enterprise Award from the U.S. Department of Treasury for ten years due to its community development lending. Its mission is to be the premier bank serving urban communities by promoting financial literacy and offering affordable financial services.