Industrial loan company

ILCs assist numerous charities and provide millions of dollars annually in grants, low interest loans, and service through the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Currently, only seven states offer an ILC bank charter. Most ILCs have been chartered by the Utah Department of Financial Institutions. Other states permitting ILCs include California, Colorado, Minnesota, Indiana, Hawaii, and Nevada.

Origins of the concept

In 1910, attorney Arthur J. Morris (1881–1973) opened the Fidelity Savings and Trust Company in Norfolk, Virginia, which made small loans to working people under a concept he called the "Morris Plan". Under this lending approach, would-be borrowers had to submit references from two people of like character and earning-power to prove the borrower's creditworthiness, and agreed to repay the loan through the purchase of Installment Thrift Certificates in weekly installments equal to the face value of the loan, less origination and investigative fees. Morris Plan Banks expanded to more than 100 locations in the United States.

Morris Plan banks pioneered the use of automotive financing (through arrangements between the Morris Plan Company of America, essentially a holding company for Morris Plan banks, and the Studebaker Corporation), and, through the subsidiary Morris Plan Insurance Society, credit life insurance (which provided for the loan to be repaid in case the borrower died during the term of the loan, with any residue going to the borrower's estate).