Dollar Loan Center was recognized with two national awards by the Financial Services Centers of America (FiSCA) recently. FiSCA awarded the company its annual Store Appearance Recognition (StAR) award for exemplary store appearance as well as the Activa award for positive community involvement.

Dollar Loan Center was one of two companies chosen among FiSCA’s 6,500 members for the prestigious FiSCA StAR Award. The award program was created in 2009 as part of FiSCA’s effort to encourage the industry to improve the overall appearance of its stores.

“Our FiSCA StAR award is issued to FiSCA members that operate stores in a manner that best exemplifies FiSCA’s Store Appearance Best Practices and whose company’s image reflects positively on the industry,” said FiSCA chairman Joseph Coleman. “They show that Dollar Loan Center is an excellent example of the positive ways our members impact their communities.”

Dollar Loan Center CEO Charles Brennan said the FiSCA StAR award is one of his proudest professional achievements. “There are 6,500 financial service centers in the United States and for ours to be recognized as one of the two best really shows that we care about our company, our employees and our customers,” he said.

The FiSCA StAR award was presented to Dollar Loan Center for one of its stores in Sioux Falls, SD. The store has an open atmosphere free from bullet-proof glass, payment windows or any barriers between employees and customers. The professional yet inviting atmosphere helps make customers feel welcome, engaged and respected and offers an inviting alternative to the lobby operations common in the industry.

“First impressions are everything,” said Coleman. “FiSCA members value and recognize the importance of store appearance to the overall performance and profitability of their stores. Financial Service Centers need to keep store appearance on par with other financial service businesses such as banks and credit unions as well as other retail establishments in the neighborhood. These initiatives are important to our entire industry and how we as a whole are perceived. Congratulations to Dollar Loan Center for setting high standards that the rest of our industry can follow.”

Dollar Loan Center received FiSCA’s Activa Award for its 2010 “Heat Is On” campaign in Las Vegas. The campaign is held every summer and provides $100 to charity for each day the temperatures reach 100 degrees or more. Fox 5 Las Vegas television weathercasters track the donations and share the progress with the public from May through September. Donations, which totaled $15,000 per year in the 2010 and 2011 campaigns, are given to Las Vegas charity Opportunity Village.

“Opportunity Village is an organization that helps people with intellectual disabilities lead more productive and interesting lives,” said Dollar Loan Center CEO Charles Brennan. “They help our community’s citizens that can’t otherwise help themselves by providing jobs, vocational training and recreational services. The ‘Heat Is On’ campaign is a great way to raise money for them and have fun doing it.”

Dollar Loan Center has given thousands to non-profit organizations across the country. This year alone, the company assisted organizations including Henderson Little League, the Solid Rock Foundation, the Skylar Neil Foundation and Pacific University. The company also gives to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, McCrossan Boys Ranch, Boys & Girls Clubs, Lili Claire Foundation, South Dakota Special Olympics and the St. Rose Hospital Foundation, among others.

ABOUT FiSCA

FiSCA, founded in 1987, is the national trade association for more than 6,500 individual financial service centers across the United States. FiSCA member locations are used by more than 15 million customers each year to conduct a wide variety of financial services.  For more information see www.fisca.org.

Dollar Loan Center is a premier provider of signature loans in 49 locations throughout Nevada, South Dakota and Utah. The company and its employees give to dozens of organizations in Nevada. In 2007, Entrepreneur Magazine listed the company among its “Hot 500” Fastest Growing Businesses and Entrepreneurs.”