The Cooperativo Latina rajah, a community care facility, is one of the first in North Carolina to accept credit and debit cards and have started accepting bitcoin.
Cooperativas Latina and the Rural Cooperative Banks of North Carolina have teamed up to provide banking services in the co-op, which has operated in Raleigh since 1999.
The co-ops, which provide cash assistance to low-income residents, have also worked to expand their services and make the coops’ cash more accessible to more customers.
Cooperative Banks of Canada said in a statement it will not accept any bank-issued debit or credit cards.
“Cooperative Bank of Canada welcomes the opportunity to offer our customers the convenience of a bank account for their banking needs,” said spokesperson Jason Hines.
“We have seen the positive impacts that this partnership has had for the coop and our members, and we are committed to making the coopers landing bank account available to our customers.”
Cooperats Latina said it is also working with local banks to offer debit cards for its members.
“The bank that we are working with is the North Carolina Cooperative Banks, and so we are looking at all of our options, and hopefully we will have more details to share soon,” said co-operative bank president John Furlong.
Coopers Landing’s banking partner said in an email to The Globe and Mail that it is working with co-operatives nationwide to provide cash and cheque services for customers.
“While there are no specific timelines for these services, we do not anticipate these services to be unavailable,” said a spokesperson for Cooperativas.
“Our customers are our biggest supporters, and that’s what we’ll be working with as we work through the election,” he added.
“It’s not a surprise to us that a significant percentage of our customers are voting for Hillary Clinton and that many of those are working hard to secure the best possible outcome for their families and communities.”
A co-ordinator for the Coopers landing co-operation said the cooperative has no plans to change its policy on credit cards, but said they’re considering whether to accept bitcoin.
“If they do accept bitcoin, they’re going to have to have a policy that says bitcoin is acceptable as a form of payment for our customers,” he said.
“In our opinion, it’s not fair for us to have our customers who are in need of cash and bitcoin just disappear from the economy.”