Mobile consulate brings Hispanic members to CU in Beloit
BELOIT, Wis. (11/1/06)--More than 1,000 people turned out for a mobile Mexican consulate team brought to Beloit, Wis., by First Community CU of Beloit and its partner, the Latino Coalition of Beloit.
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| Yadira Castellanos, teller at First Community CU of Beloit, explains savings and checking accounts to a Latino family during a mobile Mexican consulate visit to Beloit, Wis. The consulate helped immigrants get documentation to be used for identification so they could open savings and checking accounts. (Photo provided by the Wisconsin Credit Union League) |
"The consulate was supposed to be elsewhere, but they contacted the Latino Coalition of Beloit about a week and a half earlier to say there had been a cancellation, so we jumped in," said Jack Gill, CEO of the $50 million asset credit union. "The turnout was huge."
People came from as far as 50 miles away, even from Harvard, Ill., hoping to obtain documentation. The event was so popular that at 10 a.m. Friday, the consulate "had to close down and tell people in line to come back tomorrow. There was a huge demand," he said. The consular will return next spring, he said.
As a result, the credit union has 35 new members, Gill told News Now.
A bank and another credit union in Beloit also try to serve the Hispanic community but "not a ton of people are looking to serve their needs. We saw the benefits from a philanthropic point of view--it's the right thing to do--and dollar and cents point of view. This group has a good amount of money."
The credit union offered accounts to eligible members for a minimum of $5. However, many emptied their cash drawers and deposited $100 to $200, Gill said. The average checking balance of Hispanic accounts is $750.
He noted that the group is underserved but not necessarily low-wealth. Traditionally Hispanic and Latinos have money sitting in their houses because they equated financial institutions with the government and didn't trust them in their home countries.
The credit union tries to sponsor as many Hispanic community events as possible. It works with the State Line Literacy Council, which has English as a second language classes and classes on how to open a checking account and budgeting. It offered 75 smoke detectors when Alliant Energy promoted not heating a house with the stove on.
Next is a proposal with the Latino Coalition to bring a satellite office of the Centro Hispano of Dane County to Beloit.
"We do this one block at a time. We'll never get rich on the program, but it's a good thing to do and has the potential to be profitable. If we sign up 10 to 20 accounts every month, it adds up," Gill said.
"Most financial institutions are struggling to gain new members and core deposits. Everyone is chasing higher deposits. The credit union movement is struggling to find a fresh pool of members," Gill said.
The Hispanic population may be the means to solve that problem. Gill noted that the new members from the consular visit range in age from 25 to 40 years old.
The credit union steers clear of the issue of whether those getting the matricula consular documentation are in the U.S. legally. "That's not our role to determine their legality. We're serving a group of people that law allows us to serve," he said, later noting that "our job here is to provide financial products and services to immigrants."
Other credit unions interested in attracting the group will learn it is a slow process. "We spent a bit of time developing a partnership in the community and in understanding the market. We worked with State Line Literacy Council, sponsored events and we go to all the meetings of the Latino Coalition. We took many sponsorship opportunities for a minimal cost." For example, some ads on Hispanic Radio stations and Univision, a TV network for Hispanics, cost as little as $2 per ad.
"Sometimes it's hit and miss. We threw a ton of stuff out there. I'm not Latino but we have four bilingual staffers. We could never succeed without them," he said.
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