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February 18, 2008 - The Times-Picayune
Credit union to serve Hispanic workers; Bilingual ASI branch to open in Mid-City
By Susan Finch
The recently refurbished Mid-City strip shopping center that is home to Rock 'n' Bowl is about to get another unique tenant: an "all Latino" credit union office where every employee speaks Spanish and English and all documents are printed in both languages.
The first venture of its kind in the state, the ASI Federal Credit Union office expected to open early this summer near the busy intersection of Tulane and Carrollton avenues is aimed at meeting the financial needs of the area's growing Hispanic population, its officials say.
That population includes thousands of workers who have entered the United States without required documentation.
Fearful of doing anything that could get them deported, many keep their earnings in their pockets, becoming what Mayor Ray Nagin has called "walking ATMs" targeted by armed robbers.
Now ASI, a 46-year-old nonprofit agency whose mission includes helping underserved groups, is offering these workers a way to protect their money and themselves: savings accounts from which they can make withdrawals using an ATM card.
A second ATM card that comes with each such account offers an easy and inexpensive way for foreign workers to get money to family members in their home countries.
Instead of paying hefty wire-transfer fees, they can send the extra card to relatives back home to tap into the accounts on their end, said Heidi Riesling, ASI branding and promotions manager.
The so-called "safe" accounts do not earn interest because it is not necessary to have a Social Security or a federal tax ID number to open them.
"Safe account" holders can use the ID numbers to open interest-earning accounts and begin establishing credit.
"We are accepting whatever forms of identification the government is telling us is acceptable for us to take," said Shannon Cian, ASI community development specialist.
"We are just taking documentation that they are a legal citizen of some country."
For non-U.S. citizens, she said, that could be a passport, ID card or driver's license issued by a foreign government.
Cian added that ASI is gearing up to turn immigrants into taxpayers by helping them apply for federal tax ID numbers.
Critics of opening bank accounts on the strength of foreign-issued identity papers say that, by blessing this practice, the federal government is fostering illegal immigration. But its defenders, among them North Carolina credit union official Deb McLean, who pioneered such accounts there several years ago, argue that it addresses a very real public safety concern: violence against foreign workers.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Administration spokesman Temple Black said the agency is focused on enforcing the nation's immigration and customs law, not "regulating the services that businesses provide to their clients."
"We are more focused on aggravated felons and those who are prone to hurt citizens in the community," he said.
ASI, which already has branches in eight southeast Louisiana parishes, including Orleans and St. Tammany, has quietly opened 100 "safe" accounts since it began offering them a couple of years ago. ASI plans to advertise their availability once its Mid-City branch opens.
But the credit union, which has 70,000 members and serves about 700 employee groups, is already spreading the word.
"We've established partnerships with the Hispanic Apostolate and Catholic Charities, and we are talking with people at Esperanza Charter School and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce," Riesling said.
Hispanic Apostolate community services director and former banker Martin Gutierrez said ASI is among the local financial institutions that have responded to calls to improve Hispanics' access to community services.
"Whether or not they are documented is another issue," Gutierrez said. "There are many individuals who are here in the U.S. legally. Many are U.S. born but are targeted by the armed robbers.
"I know that other banks are looking into other ways of serving the Latino community; all you've got to do is look at their marketing strategies and look at their staffing."
They are looking at a big potential market: a metropolitan New Orleans Hispanic population Gutierrez estimates at between 120,000 and 150,000, up from 80,000 to 100,000 before Hurricane Katrina.
Connie Major, a vice president of the Louisiana Credit Union League, said ASI has broken new ground in the state with its safe accounts program. Many of Louisiana's other 200-plus credit unions also have reached out to Latinos and other groups, though not "to the magnitude" of ASI's effort, she said.
Once ASI's Mid-City branch is up and running, the credit union will set its sights on opening a similar bilingual branch in eastern New Orleans for Vietnamese-Americans. |
