Posted on 09/29/2008 3:16:35 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo
In an attempt to make itself more attractive to Hispanic consumers, Wachovia Bank is offering some new services, including Spanish language bank statements and a different way to transfer funds to Latin America.
A foreign remittance card that can be used at ATM machines across Latin America is one of the services in the bank's "Cuenta con Todo" or "account with everything" package of services. They are, for the most part, the same services offered to other customers, but with the addition of bank statements and information offered in Spanish, a spokeswoman for the bank said.
The bank, which has 38 branches in Westchester County, is also planning to make some branches completely bilingual, from the tellers to other bank officers, including loan officers able to make loan decisions on the spot, said bank spokeswoman Fran Durst. Durst could not say whether the bank has immediate plans for establishing those Spanish-friendly branches in Westchester County.
The bank's "Dinero Directo" foreign remittance card allows money to he transferred through ATM machines in the Visa/PLUS network of automated teller machines across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Any customer with a checking or savings account at Wachovia Bank can transfer the money into the card's account. The Dinero Directo card is safer than an ATM card because the money is, in effect, in a separate Wachovia account, Durst said.
The Dinero Directo card could be used as soon as money is transferred making it immediately available to a friend or family member with the card, which works much like a bank card in machines. Before introducing the card to all bank branches, Wachovia had the card tested in Naples, Fla., and Elizabeth, N.J.
Jorge Moller, director of the bank's "Hispanic Segment Strategy," said in a written statement that Wachovia is the first major bank to have a bank card that can be used for transfers across all of Latin America. Fifty percent of the Hispanic households in the bank's "footprint," the regions where it operates in the United States, are from Latin American countries other than Mexico, he said.
Some of the bank's new products have stolen a march on Wachovia's competitors.
Citibank, with about 22 branches in the county, has a somewhat similar card that can be used for money transfers to Mexico, but not to other Latin American countries, said Mark Rodgers, a spokesman for the bank.
The cards are available from Banamex, a Citibank subsidiary with 1,400 branches and more than 4,000 ATMs in Mexico, Rodgers said. A Mexican who can show the bank identification can get the card for $2, and money can be transferred into it from anyone with a Citibank account in the United States.
The card also works as a debit card and can be used at stores or doctors' offices, he noted.
"We think it's really a superior solution," he said. Citibank also has a "checkless checking account" with a package of products geared toward people, including Hispanic immigrants, who may not be familiar with banking. According to Rodgers, the products are meant to be easier to use.
Banco Popular, a bank with origins in Puerto Rico and with one branch in the county, does not have Spanish banking statements, said Juan Carlos Cruz, a spokesman for the bank. "We are working on those. It's in the works."
Cruz said his bank's "Acceso Popular" card can be given to customers shortly after they open an account with the bank. The card works like any ATM card and can be used anywhere in Latin America, he said. The money would be taken directly out of a checking or savings account, however, not a separate account.
UniStar Federal Credit Union, based in Tarrytown, recently opened a branch in Port Chester in which all employees speak Spanish, and the credit union hopes to have 50 percent of its customers from I Hispanic households within several years.
Debbie Lindsay, vice president for marketing and communications at UniStar, said the credit union doesn't yet have Spanish banking statements, but we're looking into doing that."
The credit union should have a card to transfer money to Latin America "probably in the next couple of months," Lindsay added, although she was not able to say in detail how the card worked. "We're doing it with other credit unions."
Wachovia is smart to try to make itself more useful to potential Hispanic customers, said John Carusone, president of the Bank Analysis Center Inc. in Hartford, Conn.
He noted, "The Hispanic community is the fastest-growing minority population in the country and any major financial institution that neglects it does so at its own peril."
Especially the final, dripping-with-irony sentence.
Hey! Great going there, Fran, Jorge, Mark, Juan Carlos, Debbie and John!
Say, just how many illegals DID abscond across the border, back to the mother ship, cash flush, after milking those defunct properties following multiple "flips"?
"NEW YORK — The U.S. credit crisis deepened Friday as Wachovia (WB) reported a $1.1 billion loss on subprime mortgage-related debt in October, while Capital One Financial (COF) said more customers are missing payments. "--11/9/07
Unfreakingbelievable.
You are aware that this is not a credit card, but simply an ATM card with special features, right? In other words, the user has to put the money into the account first. It’s simply a way of getting the money transfer business that the little wire transfer and money order businesses normally get.
it has to be punished
You realize they are going into the dumper because of subprime mortagages of which their mentality in their politically-correct, ACORN-type outreach methodology is reflected; can anyone imagine how many illegal aliens on very shaky ground with phony papers got (nearly) on-the-spot loans from this outfit? I have more than this article that shows they are corrupt in this regard—and now they are paying for it.
I worked for a very large corporation. Decades ago they were told that they would not be able to do any government business if they did not hire people from the minority communities. They were monitored, forced to place ads for jobs in certain communities, and punished if those goals weren’t met.
The dems can blame EVIL corporations all they want. I was there and saw the heavy hand of government intervention as to how a corporation ran it’s business. Merit and qualifications were not a high priority at all. On the contrary.
During the eight years of X42, those same rules were forced on the military.
Just wait till we have a dem president, you will see the end of this country. The producers are going to stand down and let our world end. And I don’t blame them at all.
The market isn’t what’s broke, is it? It’s Congress.
Kinda like my fondest dream that MORE Islamic terrorists will move here and form warm, loving communities like Dearborn, MI all over the US so we can all live together under the ROP........................................Someone kill me, please!
Something intersting happened when I first heard about Wachovia on the radio — a Wachovia ad followed the report. Guess what the ad was about? Wachovia was telling everyone to inflate his tires.
I had a contract like that and reported an Eskimo. They came all the way from Atlanta to investigate because they were skeptical of an Eskimo in East Tennessee. He was real....followed a girl who came home.
I have a BIG PROBLEM with our government printing forms in multiple languages and spending my tax dollars appealing to outsiders. Let 'em in legally, but go through the legal process in English.
Just who came up with the idea to run all these companies in the ground.
“can anyone imagine how many illegal aliens on very shaky ground with phony papers got (nearly) on-the-spot loans from this outfit?”
Dont let your imagination get ahead of facts. What are the facts? How many subprime mortgages went to immigrants? investors? drug dealers? people who were too low income to be able to afford it? Minorities?
I dont know. Anyone have the data?
This has nothing to do with mortgages. The bank did what every good capitalist does, they found a need (an efficient way of doing a funds transfer) and filled it (with the card). It’s probably a lot more legitimate and less susceptible to terrorist manipulation than other ways of transferring money, btw.
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