Latin America pre paid debit cards white labelling
In today’s financial services marketplace, there is a dramatic mismatch between the consumer needs of low wage immigrant un-banked and underbanked populations and existing financial products and vendor strategies. Drawing upon both consumer and vendor data, this paper will explore the mismatch and detail the promise and challenges of a new strategy for delivering financial services on a prepaid debit card platform.
Despite their low incomes, immigrant workers in the United States today are managing to save and send money home to places like Latin America at remarkable rates. In a survey of 480 workers recently conducted by the Center for Community Change and Community Financial Resources, while they found the median annual income to be just $15,600, the median monthly remittance was $293, and savings (after paying bills and sending money home) was $289. In effect, low -wage immigrant workers are managing to set aside more than a third of their annual income.
Yet, close to half of respondents were unbanked entirely, despite many being in possession of identification (birth certificates and matriculas) that could qualify them to open some type of bank account. In addition, many of those with bank accounts still regularly used check-cashing services and money orders. Clearly, mainstream financial institutions are not meeting the needs of low wage immigrants: they are not offering the right type of products, their services are perceived as too expensive, they are not convenient, and they are not culturally attuned. It would seem that prepaid debit cards, with the right features and product program tie-ins, marketed through trusted community institutions and coupled with financial education would be a powerful tool for un-banked and under-banked immigrant workers.
