DALLAS — Barbara Robles, associate professor at Arizona State University and Ann Baddour, senior policy analyst at Texas Appleseed provided attendees at the conference on serving the underserved with information they had collected on the financial services needs of the Latino community.
Robles collected data in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California through surveys. She reported that even though 70% of those surveyed had a relationship with a mainstream financial institution, they were still using money orders to pay bills.
Robles also said that there is a large uninsured population among those that were surveyed and they listed insurance as one of the top financial services they were interested in. Homeownership and school aid were also listed and highest on the list was retirement.
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Baddour collected her data through surveys given out at the Mexican Consulate in Chicago. She reported that 57% of those that came into the consulate were between the ages of 18 and 34 and 34% were between the ages of 35 and 54.
The surveys showed that the majority live off of a low to moderate income, with 35% making $15,000 a year, 34% making between $15,000 and $30,000, 19% making between $30,000 and $50,000, and 7% making over $50,000. However, the average reported annual remittance was $2,500, which Baddour noted was high for the level of income reported.
For those that had been living in the United States from one to five years, the majority had an income of $15,000 and under. However, for those that had been living in the United States for more than 19 years, the majority had an income of $50,000.
Also, the longer that those surveyed were in the United States the higher number of people that had accounts with a financial institution, but the number of people that sent remittances was lower. For those in the United States one to five years, 43% had accounts and 87% sent remittances; for those in the U.S. six to 10 years, 67% had accounts and 84% sent remittances; for those in the U.S. more than 10 years, 77%
had accounts and 32% sent remittances.
Death of parents and family members of those coming to the United States were some of the reasons listed for the drop in remittances.
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