Banks hope to attract business of Mexican immigrants

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Posted 2:24PM on Monday, January 21, 2002

YAKIMA, Wash. - Gabriela Moreno Casados didn't have acceptable identification when she moved here from Mexico, so she couldn't open a bank account and had no safe or convenient place to keep her money. Until recently, banks have refused to accept as ID the Mexican citizenship card issued by the Mexican Consulate in Seattle. But in an effort to reach out to immigrants, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo Bank now accept the card, making it easier for many people cash checks and open checking, savings and retirement accounts. Casados, 25, arrived here a year ago from the city of Guanajuato to work for DoLex Dollar Express, a Mexican company that operates a money wire-transfer station at Yakimex La Bodega, a market on the city's north side. Casados' paychecks are delivered to her house by mail. She can cash them at the Yakimex if she buys some groceries, which she usually does. "If I had a bank account, I could have an automatic deposit," Casados said. "It's important to have an account." And banks do more than provide a safe place for money. They often help when people want to rent homes or borrow funds to buy cars or a house, said Dennis Hogenson, a regional president for U.S. Bank in Yakima. "The Hispanic segment of our society does not always have the same identification as you and I," Hogenson said. "And the Hispanic population is a big percentage of our community that needs banking services." The Mexican Consulate has been issuing wallet-size identification, called "matricula consular," to Mexican citizens living in the United States for about 20 years. The cards resemble a driver's license and provide the individual's name, address, photo, date and place of birth, an identification number and a Mexican government logo. Since Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank began accepting the card in November, Mexicans in Washington have not rushed to open accounts or lined up at the consulate in Seattle. But as word spreads, some bank representatives believe they'll see a surge of Hispanic immigrants seeking financial services. U.S. Bank operates 11 branches in the Yakima Valley, and Wells Fargo Bank has two branches. Other cities with large Hispanic populations -- such as Los Angeles, Longmont, Colo., and Austin, Texas -- have had a stream of immigrants signing up for bank accounts. "The weekend before Christmas, we opened nearly 300 accounts in one day in the Colorado market," said Alice Perez, the Roseville, Calif.-based Hispanic market manager for U.S. Bancorp, which owns U.S. Bank. Wells Fargo reports the same at its Los Angeles branches. "Since November, thousands have opened an account with the matricula," said Mary Trigg, a Los Angeles-based bank spokeswoman. At both banks, potential customers must still show two pieces of identification, one with a photo. Before the consulate card was accepted, many immigrants lacked two proper forms of identification, said Jesus Baldovinos, a small-business banker with U.S. Bank in Selah. Because Baldovinos is bilingual, he often assists the bank's Spanish-speaking customers and has opened several accounts with the matricula. "It's convenient for those who aren't eligible for state ID or a driver's license, and there's no more hassles about this," he said. Once a month, officials from the consulate in Seattle set up at Yakima Valley Community College to issue identification cards. They process up to 300 cards per visit, said Irma Monjaraz, a consular official. Statewide, the consulate issued 19,000 cards last year. The consulate estimates there are about 500,000 Mexican citizens in Washington -- more than the total number of Hispanics recorded in the 2000 Census. The Census estimated Washington had 442,059 Hispanics in Washington in 2000, about 7.5 percent of the population. In Yakima County, nearly 36 percent of the population is Hispanic, the fastest-growing segment of the community. The requests for matricula has increased in the last two months, and Monjaraz says that may be because of the new banking opportunities. "We don't know for sure if it's correlated, but the access to services that others can get is an incentive to obtain the document, and that could well be the case," she said. The new identification policy may also make it easier for farm workers and illegal immigrants to open bank accounts. Hogenson of U.S. Bank and LeRoy Thompson, market manager for the two area Wells Fargo Bank branches, say they don't report to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. "We just want to make sure we're cashing the check or opening an account for the right person," Thompson said. The consulate is also working with Seattle-based Washington Mutual on acceptance of the matricula, Monjaraz said.