funds to small businesses. 25 community banks also serve an important role. through their lending to local communities and small businesses, they often know their customers personally and engage in community - building activities. large banks also have a key part to play. for example, in 2022, many large financial institutions initiated or expanded special purpose credit programs, many of which provide mortgage assistance to benefit black and hispanic communities. 26 in addition to their own lending, they help support mdis and cdfis through technical assistance and investment. they often share expertise in technology, business support solutions, tax considerations, and bringing programs to scale. and, as is often true, the impact can be greatest through collective efforts. in 2015, while i was at the university of michigan, i helped a former student, james wahls, design a program to bring together a local cdfi, philanthropies, and several banks, to launch the entrepreneurs of color fund in detroit. the fund extended credit to small businesses in detroit that otherwise might not qualify for bank lending, at the rate of more than $ 2 million a year. 27 and that same approach is now being used by eight testimony of william j. ( bill ) bynum, hope credit union, hope enterprise corporation, hope policy institute — before the united stated house financial services committee february 16, 2022. http : / / hopepolicy. org / manage / wp - content / uploads / final - hope - section - 1071comment - 01 - 06 - 222. pdf. the government - sponsored enterprises also published equitable housing plans in june 2022 announcing plans to develop special purpose credit programs. freddie mac ’ s equitable housing plan described its multi - year plan to develop its own special purpose credit program and provide liquidity pursuant to the program https : / / www. freddiemac. com / about / pdf / freddie - mac - equitablehousing - finance - plan. pdf. fannie mae's equitable housing plan described its strategy for developing special purpose credit programs, including it plans to identify markets to pilot and test a potential program https : / / www. fanniemae. com / media / 43636 / display. entrepreneurs of color fund, detroit, mi. https : / / www. lisc. org / eocf / impact / detroit - eocf /. - 10 - additional cities and involves more than twenty local cdfi partners. closer to home,

card lines may strain their cash flow and force them to cut spending or require them to use more expensive forms of short - term credit, such as trade finance. changes in the use of payment instruments consumer credit pricing and availability also appear to affect consumer preferences for different payment methods. when consumers decide how to pay for their purchases, they may have a variety of payment options to choose from, including cash, checks, debit cards, credit cards, prepaid cards, and even, increasingly, their mobile phones. the federal reserve has tracked changes in consumers ’ use of payment instruments in a number of studies over the past decade. these studies cast an interesting light on the effects that weakened economic conditions have had on the mix of payments. the number of checks processed in the united states has been declining since the late 1990s, as consumers, businesses, and governments have shifted away from checks and toward electronic payment methods. the annual number of checks dropped from more than 40 billion in 2000 to 30 billion in 2006, and we expect the data for 2009 to show continued declines. at the same time, the use of debit and credit cards has risen. debit card payments, in particular, have grown remarkably : between 2000 and 2008, the number of debit card transactions grew at an annual rate of more than 17 percent, while the value of debit card transactions grew 15 percent per year. credit card transactions have grown at a slower pace than debit card transactions over the same period – about 2 percent per year in number and roughly 5 percent per year in value. for smaller - value payments, both types of cards, but especially debit cards, have served as substitutes for checks and, very likely, cash. although the nature of cash makes direct measurement of aggregate cash payments difficult, we can infer a trend in usage from changes in the level of small - denomination currency that is most frequently used in cash payments. the amount of small - denomination domestic currency in circulation has been steadily declining since the 1970s, leading us to believe that cash payments have similarly declined. most interestingly, the recent period of economic weakness appears to have caused some consumers to shift away from credit cards not only as a source of credit but also as a method of payment. as i said earlier, between late 2008 and early 2010, the value of credit card purchases declined 10 percent. in comparison, although the rate of growth in debit card use slowed during the recession, debit card transactions did not decline in either volume or