SANTA ANA, Calif. — In an attempt to better serve its Hispanic members, American First Credit Union has recently formed the Latino Community Advisory Council.

Prominent Latino community and business leaders were invited to attend the council's inaugural meeting to provide valuable input on creating and improving financial products and services for Orange County's Latino community.

With the Hispanic community representing some 45% of Orange County residents and a high Hispanic member base, the move to create a council developed some six months ago as a way to connect with the community.

“We first talked about having a focus group but we wanted to build a real relationship within the community,” said American First CU Assistant Vice President of Marketing Ryan Zilker. “We particularly hope to work together to offer alternatives for the unbanked that too often fall prey to check cashing stores and paying ridiculous amounts of interest.”

Committee members include: 47th Congressional District of California Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez; Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Chairman Joel Ayala; Freddie Mac Housing and Community Investments Expanding Markets Director Samuel Luna; DVA, Inc. President Rosalie Delgadillo; Orange County Fair Human Resources Supervisor Bianca Kulback; Orange County Fair Human Resource Specialist Deysi Figueroa; Big Canyon Country Club Golf Course Superintendent Jeff Beardsley; Chivas, USA Corporate Sales Account Executive Adolfo Romero; American First CU Branch Manger Christine Rodarte; Assistant Vice President Business Development Janet Rombi; and Business Development Manger Rafael Vargas.

By joining forces with community leaders, Zilker says the credit union hopes to develop nontraditional products and services that will best meet the community's needs. So far plans are underway for the council to meet at least three times a year.

According to findings in a new survey by CUNA, credit unions are doing a good job reaching out to Hispanics, but can do more.

In a survey of 465 credit unions, 13% have a program in place or are in the process of starting a program, CUNA's Hispanic Resource Center Advisory survey reports.

One in four credit unions surveyed with more than $200 million in assets had a program in place and another 15% plan to start one.

While credit unions overall spend an average of $31,469 to serve the Hispanic market, credit unions with more than $500 million in assets spend an average of nearly $105,000.

In addition, one in five credit unions surveyed currently has bilingual staff available to serve this market. Large credit unions average more than 20 bilingual staff members.

The survey also indicates that more than half of the credit unions with programs targeting the Hispanic market have offered their programs for six years or longer.

When segmenting the survey findings by potential Hispanic membership, two out of three credit unions either have a program in place or are starting one when their membership potential is 40% or more Hispanic.

Products and services areas likely to see the greatest growth include low-cost international remittance services, nonmember check cashing services, and ads and articles in Spanish-language media. –[email protected]