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Article: How to Reach Hispanics: Give Them Credit; Listen up bankers. A specialty finance firm in California is winning over unbanked consumers with simple, small-dollar loans.(Progress Financial)
- Article from:
- US Banker
- Article date:
- November 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 SourceMedia, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Marissa Fajt
James Gutierrez believes he has found the key to reaching unbanked Hispanics - credit. "In this country not having a credit score is like not having a face," says Gutierrez, whose San Jose company makes loans to Hispanic customers with little or no credit history. "What we try to do is build that face for customers."
Gutierrez founded Progress Financial fresh out of graduate school in 2005 and, today, his company operates booths in 15 California grocery stores that target Hispanics.
Now it plans to expand beyond its home state. The goal is to open booths in Texas over the next six months and to have 140 of them in several ...