Latino inclusion isn’t a campaign—it’s a growth strategy. Here’s how credit unions can better serve Hispanic/Latino members and empower Latinx professionals in 2025.
How Credit Unions Can Truly Serve Latino Members
Most credit unions say they want to reach Hispanic and Latino communities. Very few have a real strategy, the right talent, and the patience to earn trust.
Here’s the thing about Latino members: they’re not a “niche.” Latino communities drive population growth and small-business creation across the U.S., and they’re increasingly digital-first. For credit unions that care about sustainable growth and member-centric banking, this isn’t a side project. It’s the growth strategy.
That’s why the work of NLCUP (National Association of Latino Credit Unions & Professionals) and leaders like Barbara Mojica matters so much. Their core goal is simple and bold:
“Our goal is to empower the Latinx community in the credit union industry.” – Barbara Mojica
This post pulls from Barbara’s story and NLCUP’s mission and translates it into something very practical: how your credit union can better serve Hispanic/Latino members, empower Latinx professionals, and use AI responsibly to do both at scale.
Why Latino inclusion is a growth strategy, not a campaign
If you’re serious about member-centric banking, prioritizing Latino communities isn’t optional. It’s strategic.
Here’s why this matters for credit unions right now:
- Latino Americans are one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. population.
- They account for a rising share of new homeowners, entrepreneurs, and young workers.
- Yet millions remain underbanked, overpaying for financial services or using cash-only systems.
When you combine that with credit unions’ cooperative DNA, the opportunity is obvious: Latino financial inclusion is perfectly aligned with the credit union mission and long-term growth.
But most institutions still treat “Hispanic outreach” as:
- A translation project (just convert the website to Spanish)
- A marketing calendar item (sponsor something for Hispanic Heritage Month)
- An add-on product (a “Latino checking account” with generic features)
The reality? Latino inclusion is an organizational design question. It touches:
- Who you hire and promote
- How you design products
- How you use data and AI
- How you show up in communities
NLCUP exists because too few credit unions have built that full picture. And that’s the gap you can close.
Representation: strategically placing leaders where members can see themselves
If you want to serve Latino communities well, representation in leadership isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s infrastructure.
Barbara often talks about strategically placing leaders to reflect diverse communities. That means:
- Latino leaders in the C-suite, not just in branch roles
- Latinx professionals in product, risk, marketing, and data teams
- Board members who understand the lived realities of Hispanic/Latino members
Why this directly affects member outcomes
When Latinx professionals help set strategy, things change:
- Products fit better. For example, flexible underwriting for members with thin or no traditional credit files, or ITIN lending programs.
- Messaging lands correctly. You avoid tone-deaf marketing and build trust through culturally relevant communication.
- Risk is assessed more fairly. Leaders who understand informal income sources, multi-generational households, and immigrant documentation nuances make different decisions.
I’ve seen credit unions spend months on “Latino growth initiatives” while making zero changes to their leadership pipeline. That’s backwards. If the people at the decision table don’t match the people you’re trying to serve, your strategy will always miss the mark.
Practical moves you can make in 2025
Here’s what a serious representation plan looks like:
- Board-level commitment: Set specific targets and timelines for adding Latino representation to committees and the board.
- Internal talent programs: Partner with groups like NLCUP for leadership development, mentoring, and sponsorship of Latinx staff.
- Visibility: Highlight Latino leaders in member-facing channels so members see themselves represented in power, not just at the teller line.
Member-centric AI can help here too. Analyzing internal HR data can surface promotion gaps, pay equity gaps, and leadership pipeline bottlenecks by demographic — but only if you’re willing to look and act.
Serving Hispanic/Latino members starts with listening, not translation
Credit unions that win with Latino members do one thing consistently: they listen before they design.
That sounds obvious. But most institutions skip it and jump straight to campaigns or tech.
What Latino members actually need from credit unions
From the work of organizations like NLCUP and what I’ve seen across the industry, a few patterns are clear:
-
Safe, trusted entry points
Many Latino households have experienced predatory financial products, high-fee check cashers, or confusing contracts. They want:- Transparent pricing
- Clear explanations without jargon
- Staff who can speak Spanish (or other languages) when needed and understand cultural context
-
Pathways, not just products
People don’t wake up wanting a “loan product.” They wake up wanting citizenship, a home, a more stable business, or a better future for their kids. That means:- Financial education that’s specific to immigration, entrepreneurship, and multi-generational finances
- Step-by-step journeys (e.g., from no credit → secured card → auto loan → first mortgage)
-
Recognition of diverse documentation and credit histories
Many Latino members are:- Thin-file or no-file in traditional credit systems
- Paid partially in cash or through informal work
- Using ITINs instead of Social Security numbers
If your underwriting doesn’t adapt, you’re rejecting exactly the members who most need cooperative finance.
How AI can support culturally aware service (without replacing humans)
AI for credit unions gets powerful when you stop treating it as a chatbot project and start treating it as member-intelligence infrastructure:
- Language-aware virtual assistants: Bilingual AI support that actually understands member intent in English and Spanish, routes complex issues to human staff, and learns from real questions over time.
- Personalized education journeys: AI-driven content that adapts to a member’s life stage (new arrival, first-time homebuyer, small-business owner) and preferred language and channel.
- Data-informed product design: Analytics that highlight where Latino members drop off in applications, which products they over-index on, and where approval disparities show up.
The key is this: AI should make it easier for your staff to serve Latino members with empathy and precision, not replace the human relationships that build trust.
Supporting women of color in credit unions: from slogans to systems
Barbara is candid about the unique challenges women of color face in the credit union industry. It’s not just a “diversity” issue. It’s a performance issue.
When women of color are excluded from leadership, boards, and key projects, you lose:
- First-hand insight into member realities
- Creative product ideas grounded in lived experience
- Role models that help you retain top Latinx talent
Common barriers women of color report
Across financial services, the same patterns show up:
- Being passed over for stretch assignments or visible projects
- Lack of sponsorship (not just mentorship) from senior leaders
- Higher scrutiny on performance, lower margin for mistakes
- Being pigeonholed into “diversity” or “multicultural” roles only
You can’t claim to be member-centric for Latino communities while maintaining internal systems that sideline Latina leaders.
What real support looks like
If your credit union is serious about this, your plan should include:
- Sponsored leadership paths: Formal programs where executives are accountable for advancing women of color into director/VP roles.
- Transparent promotion criteria: Clear, written, and consistently applied standards that reduce bias in who “seems ready.”
- Visibility in member-facing roles: Intentionally highlighting Latina leaders in branches, media, and community partnerships.
AI has a role here as well. Bias-aware HR analytics can surface promotion, compensation, and turnover discrepancies for women of color. But the tech only helps if leadership commits to change the policies driving the data.
Practical steps to connect, serve, and empower Latino members in 2025
If you’re reading this because your credit union wants real movement, here’s a focused roadmap you can start on this quarter.
1. Audit your Latino member experience end-to-end
Don’t guess. Measure.
- What percentage of your membership and lending portfolio is Hispanic/Latino?
- What’s approval vs. denial rate by segment and product?
- Where do Spanish-speaking members drop off in digital journeys?
Use AI analytics tools to segment this cleanly and identify gaps you can’t see from the surface.
2. Build a Latinx talent and leadership plan
- Create specific goals for hiring and promoting Latinx professionals at supervisor, manager, and executive levels.
- Partner with organizations like NLCUP for leadership training, speaking opportunities, and networking for your staff.
- Set aside budget for professional development for Latinx employees — not just conferences, but year-round programs.
3. Redesign products and underwriting with inclusion in mind
Focus on three high-impact areas:
- Credit-building tools that work for thin-file members (secured cards, credit-builder loans, rent and utility reporting).
- ITIN-friendly lending policies for auto, small-dollar, and mortgage products, with clear, empathetic documentation support.
- Digital-first, bilingual onboarding that explains terms clearly and offers live support at key steps.
Use AI-based decisioning carefully: train models on inclusive data, monitor outcomes by demographic, and be ready to override automated decisions when they conflict with your mission.
4. Invest in culturally relevant financial education
Go beyond generic budgeting content. Create:
- Workshops on topics like remittances, mixed-status families, and business formalization
- Short videos or messages in Spanish and English that explain credit scores, ITIN use, and homebuying
- AI-driven content hubs that recommend next lessons based on what members actually click, ask, and complete
5. Build community relationships that last longer than a sponsorship check
Serving Latino members is relational, not transactional.
- Show up consistently at Latino-owned businesses, schools, and community events.
- Empower your Latino staff to lead these engagements and be recognized for it in performance reviews.
- Use AI only as support — for example, to analyze which community partnerships drive real membership growth and financial health, not just impressions.
Where credit unions go from here
Most credit unions won’t transform their Latino member strategy because it requires hard choices: who gets promoted, what products get redesigned, which risks they’re willing to re-evaluate. The ones that do will own the next decade of member growth.
NLCUP and leaders like Barbara Mojica are proving something simple: when Latinx professionals have power and communities have a real seat at the table, credit unions perform better — financially and socially.
If your credit union is serious about member-centric banking, especially for Hispanic/Latino communities, the next step isn’t another marketing campaign. It’s a conversation:
- With your Latinx staff about what they actually need to thrive
- With your data about who you’re serving well — and who’s being left out
- With partners who’ve already built the playbook for Latino financial inclusion
The question now is straightforward: Will your institution treat Latino inclusion as a checkbox, or as the core of your growth strategy for the next 5–10 years?