Welcome to Coopera's May issue of Hispanic Outreach Insights! Coopera is a subsidiary of the Iowa Credit Union League and is a strategic partner of the Credit Union National Association. We help credit unions grow through the Hispanic market and are committed to bringing you relevant information that will aid your Hispanic outreach efforts. Growing by reaching the Hispanic market is not easy or quick. With so much information available on this topic, we wanted to compile the most relevant information in bite-sized pieces to guide your Hispanic outreach initiative. Whether you are the community outreach coordinator, marketing director or CEO of your credit union, Coopera is here to help answer your questions about the Hispanic opportunity. |
| Hispanics Use Alternative Forms of Identification and Documentation |
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Have you adapted your credit union's Customer Identification Program (CIP) to be welcoming to Hispanics in your community? Many Hispanics are immigrants who may not have the traditional forms of identification and documentation you may be used to seeing when opening new accounts. Not all Hispanics are permanent residents or citizens of the United States which means they may not have a driver's license or a Social Security Number.
The U.S. Patriot Act and the National Credit Union Administration require credit unions as financial institutions to have a CIP that outlines procedures for verifying the identity of credit union members when opening accounts. According to this regulation, a credit union must obtain and verify the following information prior to opening a member account:
- name
- address
- date of birth
- taxpayer identification number for U.S. persons or government issued identification number for non-U.S. persons.
This means that financial institutions can choose to accept government issued documentation like the matricula consular and a foreign passport as a valid form of identification when opening a member account.
The matricula consular or similar consulate cards are issued by the Mexican Consulate and a select few other Latin American countries including Guatemala. These consulate cards are to identify individuals born outside of the U.S., but residing in the U.S. in case they were to ever need assistance from their respective consulates. To obtain a card, Mexicans must complete an application and provide documentation to prove their identity, their Mexican nationality and proof of residence in the U.S. The card is issued by the Mexican government and contains an official identification number, expiration date and birth date of the individual. This card is in English and Spanish. |
| Adapting Your Policies and Procedures to Be Welcoming to Hispanics |
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Making any changes to your CIP will require board approval and board understanding of why you want to do this.
Coopera has worked with a number of credit unions to adapt their policies and procedures to the needs of the Hispanic community.
Contact us today and schedule a 1-hour consultation for $150 ($100 for Iowa credit unions) to review your current CIP and provide recommendations on how to adapt it to the Hispanic market. We also provide the training necessary for credit union boards, management and staff to better understand the complexities of adapting these policies and procedures:
- A helpful Identification Flowchart that can be used to train front-line staff.
- A Reference Guide of alternative forms of identification and documentation.
- A Webinar on Understanding the Immigrant Experience for all staff.
- A Webinar on Insitituting the Right Identification Policies for management and staff.
- A variety of Onsite Training Sessions to help staff understand immigration, the immigrant experience, the Latin American economic and political context, the realities of immigration, the financial needs of immigrants, unique marketing strategies for immigrants, and many other topics.
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