Milka Luciano arrived in New York 26 years ago, but it was only six years ago that her dream of becoming the owner of Abuela's Restaurant, on Second Avenue in Manhattan, became a reality, when she resorted to an organization rather than a usurer for a loan.
“When I wanted to buy equipment and grow the business, I had no place to get the money,” the Mexican immigrant explained to El Diario.
Unlike most Hispanics, who borrow from independent lenders at interest rates above 25 percent – this is illegal in the state of New York – she went to the organization known as ACCION [a nonprofit micro-lender that contributes to the economic development of the N.Y. metropolitan area].
“Usurers charge interests up to 600 percent,” affirmed Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, who announced that his office is giving ACCION a grant of $100,000, to do outreach among immigrant communities to inform them that there are options for obtaining affordable loans.
ACCION, which began in 1991, has made loans to Hispanics of over $31 million, at a maximum annual interest rate of 10.99 percent, according to Laine Rolong, community relations director for ACCION New York.
“Hispanics go to the loan sharks because that is what they know. You can never get out from under those debts. They do it because they don't know that there are better options,” explained Eduardo Giraldo, vice president for Government and Corporate Relations at the Queens Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, where 1,200 small businesses are registered.
“It is important that Hispanics interested in opening their own businesses, or expanding them, know that we exist and don't let themselves be cheated by loans with interest rates that are too high, from lenders who do not offer advice for making their businesses succeed,” Rolong insists.
“Businesses opened by immigrants stimulate the city's economy and are the lifeblood that generates jobs,” Stringer assured us.
For more information on how to obtain loans from ACCION, please call Laine Rolong at (212) 387-0494 or visit the web page www.accionnewyork.org.
The prerequisites for obtaining a loan are a taxpayer identification document and personal identification.
