Remittances to Latin America countries on the rise in Orange County

Though its small storefront in Carrboro Plaza doesn’t suggest an economic powerhouse, employees at the Latino Community Credit Union will handle tens of thousands of dollars today.

But much of that money won’t stay in Carrboro for long.

The credit union handles remittance-sending — or the practice of wiring money abroad to help friends and families in home countries — and other financial services for the growing Latino population of Orange County.

“Central America, Guatemala, El Salvador, but maybe it’s 85 or 87 percent is direct to Mexico,” said Manuel Fermin, a loan officer who assists customers in sending remittances at the Carrboro branch of the credit union.

In recent years, the credit union has seen an increase in the amounts of money sent as remittances.

While in 2001, a normal remittance transaction at the credit union was $550, in 2012 customers sent an average of $1,800.

And the Carrboro branch is not the only service seeing this change.

As North Carolina’s Latino population has grown in the last decade, so too has the demand for financial services that cater to Latino and immigrant communities.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, North Carolina has a Latino population of more than 800,000 — up from roughly 379,000 in 2000.

Latino communities have grown strongly in the state’s center.

There are nearly 6,000 more Latinos living in Orange County than were 10 years ago, according to a report from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

Victor Acosta, a community organizer with the Chapel Hill/Carrboro Human Rights Center, works with local immigrant day laborers.

For the men he works with, maintaining connections with the families they left abroad is critical.

Nearly every morning, he sees day laborers calling home in the slow times between jobs.

“You see a lot of them calling their wives and children,” Acosta said.

“A lot of them are here without their families.”

Income for day labor is meager.

Yet for some of the men, 60 to 70 percent of their earnings is sent abroad as remittances, Acosta said.

He said most day laborers he works with send remittances on a weekly basis.

“The vast majority of them do, there’s only a few that I’ve heard that don’t,” he said.

Though the day laborers can make between $200 and $300 per week, Acosta said less than half of that is usually spent on their own living expenses.

“Essentially it’s just budgeting correctly, buying the cheapest food,” he said.

“Really just anything they can do to help their families.”

Remittances from the U.S. to Latin American countries constitute a major industry.

According to a report by the U.S. Department of State, $22.73 billion was sent in 2011 from people living in the U.S. to Mexico alone.

Most remittance transactions are made through money transfer services like MoneyGram and Western Union.

Both companies have several sites in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and their services have seen increased usage in recent years.

Vicky Garcia, vice president of operations at the Latino Community Credit Union, said remittances are one of clients’ greatest financial concerns.

“They can set up an auto-transaction, say, every time they’re paid, or send whenever their families need money,” she said.

In 2012, the Carrboro and Durham branches sent around 1,000 remittance transactions.

“We offer a product that is called Directo a Mexico and GlobeNow who are basically provided by the Federal Reserve Bank,” she said.

“The way we are able to send the money down to Mexico is very efficient to the member.”

Garcia said about 70 percent of all remittance transactions made at the credit union go to Mexico, but Honduras and Guatemala are also common destinations with customers.

She said the popularity of remittances in N.C. has increased with the growth of the state’s Latino population.

Today, the credit union has about 53,000 members across the state.

“We are one of the fastest growing credit unions in the country and that’s basically because of the large Latino population,” Garcia said.

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.