NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Half of the 52 million Latinos living in the U.S. are financially underserved — meaning that they have little or no access to traditional banking services. Left out of the financial mainstream, they rely on alternative financial services like check cashers, payday lenders and other high cost services. This is an economically unsustainable situation, and it’s time to make a change.

On September 30, more than 4,000 people from across the country will convene in Washington, D.C. to join the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, and to attend CHCI’s annual Public Policy Conference. I am honored to be among those participating in programs that confront the social and economic issues most relevant to Latino Americans today. As the National Chairman of Master Your Card: Oportunidad, a coalition dedicated to educating Latino communities about how to use electronic payment technologies to their advantage, my focus during this event will be increasing financial inclusion.