How Do Financial Attitudes and Preferences Vary among Latine Consumers?

The Latine community in the United States is the fastest growing segment of the US economy. Yet Latine families still face unique barriers to accessing financial services and products. To understand what factors influence Latine people’s experiences with the financial system, we conducted a mixed-me...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2024
Main Authors: Godinez-Puig, Luisa, Sonoda, Paige, Nikhita Airi
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Acculturation
Consumers
Economic conditions
Finance
Financial services
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Latine community in the United States is the fastest growing segment of the US economy. Yet Latine families still face unique barriers to accessing financial services and products. To understand what factors influence Latine people’s experiences with the financial system, we conducted a mixed-methods study, pairing findings from semi-structured interviews with analysis of the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances. This approach allowed us to understand Latine experiences firsthand and provide a broad context of Latine consumers in the US. Our findings suggest the following: 1) Language and cultural barriers create challenges for Latine consumers navigating a complex and confusing system. This is particularly true for Latine people who have newly arrived in the US and have low acculturation levels; 2) Latine consumers with higher levels of acculturation and those who were either born in the US or had been in the US for more than 10 years have lower levels of trust toward financial service providers. This subgroup of Latine participants talked about having had negative experiences with banks, which influenced their feelings about the financial system; 3) Undocumented Latines faced unique barriers to financial inclusion, including having to meet high identification requirements for opening an account; 4) Racism remains an issue for the Latine community, with participants across subgroups referencing having endured microaggressions and other forms of racism or knowing people who had those types of experiences; 5) As expected, income plays a role in Latines’ savings behaviors and influences people’s abilities to save and plan for the future. Similarly, income plays a role in how respondents view financial well-being and whether they are prepared for unforeseen expenses. These observations highlight the need for more research and more targeted policy and product design that incorporates disaggregated data showing how individual characteristics can influence the barriers, feelings, experiences, and trust of Latine people toward the financial system.