Reaching out to immigrants Immigrants often arrive in this country with little in the way of financial assets. Many are unfamiliar with or distrusting of financial institutions because in their countries of origin, banks tend to serve the wealthy or can be corrupt. As a result, many immigrants operate on a cash basis using neighborhood check cashers to cash their payroll checks. Reaching out to these “New Americans” means offering a range of non-traditional products such as check cashing, international wire transfers, and SAFE accounts (non-interest bearing accounts) and allowing them to conduct business in their native languages. It means making them feel respected and welcome in credit union lobbies.
Who are the immigrants? Immigrants are defined as persons living in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth. According to the 2007 Current Population Survey collected by the Census Bureau, there were 37.3 million immigrants in the country, including an estimated 11.3 million illegal immigrants. The region of birth for the immigrant population in the U.S. is as follows: All Latin America 54.6% o Mexico 31.3% o Caribbean 9.1% o South America 7.3% o Central America 7.0% East/Southeast Asia 17.6% Europe 12.5% South Asia 5.5% Middle East 3.5% Sub-Saharan Africa 2.8% Canada 1.9% Other 1.7%
Why should credit unions care? Competition to serve this market is heating up because banks and other financial service providers realize the size of the market. While immigrants may start out earning modest incomes and hold modest levels of wealth, many will climb the social and economic ladders with time. They will want financial institutions that can meet their unique financial needs in a manner that makes them feel comfortable and accepted.
What can credit unions do? Building trust is critical when establishing relationships with an immigrant market. Credit unions can find strategic community partners who already have a connection with this market and build alliances. The community partner can educate the credit union on how best to reach and serve this market and even make referrals to the credit union. In turn, the credit union must respect and make these new members feel welcome and provide services in their native language. The best method to accomplish this is to hire employees from the neighborhood it wishes to serve.