Georgia Appleseed is working to bring Hispanic immigrants into the mainstream American financial system, to help them avoid predatory and other high-cost financial services, and to enable them to save, access credit, and build economic stability.

Latino immigrants without bank accounts endure a double disadvantage. Approximately two-thirds of immigrants cash their paychecks in check-cashing stores that charge high fees. Furthermore, without a bank account, they are hampered in their ability to build assets and credit histories that would allow them to pursue the American dream to buy a home, start a business, or pursue an education.

As an integral part of its effort, Georgia Appleseed is disseminating a series of financial education materials that give immigrants the tools to make better financial decisions. In addition, we are working with partners around the state in their efforts to reach and fairly serve immigrants, including enhancing efficiency and transparency within the fast-growing remittance market.

Remittance Policy

Banking in a Global Market

• Georgia Appleseed, in conjunction with the national office of Appleseed and four Appleseed Centers (Texas, Alabama, Illinois and Nebraska) announces development of a guide to help financial institutions better serve the growing global remittance market.
• “Banking in a Global Market” offers a step-by-step approach to establishing a remittance program that is beneficial to both consumers and the financial institutions serving them.  The report describes several effective remittance programs, drawing on the experiences of financial institutions in Georgia and throughout the U.S. Many of Georgia’s immigrants lag behind the general population in using mainstream financial services. This has had harsh consequences: financial victimization, muggings, and even murder, right here in Georgia. By offering a tried-and-tested remittance program, financial institutions can more successfully enter and serve the immigrant market. Serving this market will help to promote public safety and economic security, and immigrants will have a better opportunity to save money, build credit, and move up the financial ladder. 

Fair Exchange

• The mission of the Fair Exchange Project is to explore creating a market-based initiative for providing improved pricing disclosures in international remittance markets. It was launched by Appleseed in April 2006 with the support of financial industry, community, policy and regulatory partners.

Financial Literacy

Consumers and Financial Institutions

Georgia Appleseed is serving as a connector throughout the state, working with government agencies, local and national banks and other financial institutions, nonprofits, employers, and many others to share information and build relationships.

• Appleseed's Banking Immigrant Communities: A Toolkit for Bankers and Credit Unions assists financial institutions in marketing needs and strategies for unbanked populations.
• Georgia Appleseed has worked with community and public agencies, immigrant organizations, faith groups, and others to broadly disseminate a series of English and Spanish language financial literacy brochures.
  

Financial Literacy in Tift & Colquitt Counties (UGA Extension Program)

In Tift County, Georgia, where six immigrants were murdered in home invasions, public safety is enhanced through the financial literacy training specifically for immigrants offered through the UGA Extension Service, an arrangement that grew from a Georgia Appleseed partnership.

Georgia Appleseed worked collaboratively with the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and the Archway Partnership to create a new Family and Consumer Science Extension Agent position to provide bilingual financial education for Tift and Colquitt Counties. Andrea Scarrow began her work in this position on July 1, 2007.

Andrea works on the most immediate financial education needs of the recent immigrant populations in Tift and Colquitt counties. She is reaching across the gamut of populations in the region from high school students to H2A agricultural workers with financial literacy workshops, as well as ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) students at the Tifton Work Force Center on how to save money. She is holding "train the trainer" financial access and literacy workshops to expand the range of the project in the region.

Through her work, Andrea is piloting a "blended" ESOL program that teaches basic financial literacy while at the same time teaching English. About a dozen Latina immigrants in the Omega area are now participating in Andrea's class.

Andrea serves the community in the full collaborative Appleseed spirit, engaging with allies in local educational institutions as well as the local banking institutions and other businesses supportive of financial literacy and access. Through an informal focus group earlier in January, 2008, Andrea has helped to identify some of the continued barrier to financial access in the area (lack of bilingual staff at some local banks, problems with identification requirements) as well as some of the continued negative consequences of going unbanked, particularly a heightened vulnerability to fraud. With the help of her local advisory group, Andrea is working to identify what the next steps are to address these issues.

• As a first step in summer of 2007, twenty-six local collaborative partners from Tift and Colquitt counties met with Andrea to identify immediate needs related to financial education and effective avenues to reach targeted audiences. The initial result was sixteen presentations in three months to Spanish, English and bi-lingual audiences.
• In 2007, Georgia Appleseed hosted an education seminar in Tift County on "Banking Immigrant Communities" which drew fifty participants from immigrant groups, banking institutions, and local law enforcement. As a result of the seminar, a local area bank has started marketing its services to the Hispanic community in the region.
• Sample workshops presented by Andrea Scarrow in recent months include "Fiscal Fitness," "ESL Financial Literacy," "Steps on the Path to Home Ownership," and "Real Life English / Finances."
• In December, 2007 and January, 2008 alone, this Extension Service effort tracked 242 face-to-face presentations, 32 phone contacts, and 88 written communications, plus distributed over 1,500 literacy brochures.

The Individual Taxpayer Identification Number and New Customer Banking

ITIN is the acronym for Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issues ITINs to people who need a taxpayer identification number and who are ineligible to obtain a Social Security number (SSN) from the U.S. government.

Whereas the IRS intends for ITIN numbers to be used exclusively for tax identification purposes within the framework of the federal tax system, other federal agencies, including some financial institutions, have accepted the use of ITINs for their own regulatory functions.

Georgia Appleseed Focus Group On Financial Light