About CAP
Our Mission
"To offer a broad range of benefits to member organizations and employees involved with the credit cycle and to educate the community in the proper use of credit."
Our Vision
"Be visible to our members by being important and valuable to our members."
Our History: The year 1993 is noteworthy for the Credit Association of Portland, for it is, in a sense, its 100th Anniversary. A credit reporting agency, said to have been established in 1893, was the root of the credit bureau eventually taken over by Retail Credit Association (our original name.)
In January 1921, a voluntary association of Portland credit grantors was formalized by incorporation as Associated Retail Credit Men of Portland, Oregon. The charter empowered engaging in credit reporting. However, except for a brief minor interest in a collection agency, no business venture was undertaken until 1928. In that year, the name was changed to the present, and corporate authority broadly enlarged to include collection agency operation. Bernard B. Cantor, who had been a director, was engaged as "Adjustment Department" manager. Located briefly in the Panama Building (now Willamette), the agency moved to the ground floor at 2nd Avenue and Stark St., and grew to be a major factor in the field. In addition, in the desperate times of the '30's, "prorating", now known as counseling, was conducted under the supervision of Celia Lesman. The handling of these depression era cases, approaching a thousand, led to her later appointment as Federal Trustee for Chapter XIII filings.
Meanwhile, the association had been working closely with the Credit Reporting Company, operated by John N. Keeler since about 1918. Mr. Keeler was elected corporate secretary of Associated Retail Credit Men in 1924, and association dues were billed "piggy-back" on his reporting service statements.
In 1944, the association undertook the installment purchase of the Credit Reporting Company. Upon Mr. Keeler's death in 1948, the proceeds of insurance on his life, maintained by Retail Credit Association, facilitated completion of the purchase. Management of the reporting department was added to Mr. Cantor's responsibility.
Early in 1946, Mr. Cantor resigned for reasons of health. J.D. MacEwan, then of Seattle, was engaged to manage the combined operation. He was elected secretary-treasurer, and assigned duties in the trade association activity field, as well.
In time, the business grew to require as many as 200 employees. In January 1970, the offices were moved from the Willamette (formerly Panama) Building, to the Pittock Block. Meanwhile, the computerizing of credit bureaus by multi-bureau ownerships was developing. To credit grantors, the advantages of instant availability of a high volume of wide area coverage information, made advisable the transfer of the association' s information base to a computer-capable management. Accordingly, the credit bureau and collection department were acquired by the Retail Credit Company of Atlanta, Georgia (now Equifax). The invested proceeds of the sale provide for continuation of association activities, augmented through the following-described measures.
To provide a means of furnishing financial support to credit-related causes, without tax penalty, a not-for-profit corporation, Consumer Credit Foundation was formed. It has been endowed to enable contribution to such activities as Consumer Credit Counseling Service, bankruptcy curtailment advertising campaigns, personal finance education through Oregon Association for Consumer Education (mainly high school personal finance teachers) and the Oregon Council for Economic Education, the expense of a business-supported guest credit education teacher for high schools, and credit educational films for classroom use throughout the area.
An important part of the overall activity continues to be carried on in the name of Credit Association of Portland. In legislative endeavor, the association's intervention at critical times has proven essential to keenly sought enactment. Credit skill seminars for members' credit personnel are led by highly qualified instructors, and at nominal cost. Close liaison with school authorities has been maintained at local and state levels, with association members serving on book selection and personal finance education advisory committees.
The association's mark is on the statutes of Oregon. Its influence will bear upon the credit attitudes of coming generations, and the future credit climate of a wide area will be brighter, thanks to Credit Association of Portland.
Amendment: Since the Association's membership spans across the Columbian River, the Board of Directors agreed at the November 2006 meeting to change the name of the association to the Credit Association of the Pacific NW.