Why Mexicans cash their checks inside the bank and other monetary oddities
Who really entered the bank these days? Mexicans (and other Latinos) do! When they get paid, they take their checks directly to the bank. But they walk right past the ATM outside, walk inside the branch, and line up. They arrive at the teller, cash their check and happily leave the building; until the next 15 or 30 days when they come back. Apparently cash is king for my people. I started wondering about this many years ago and came up with the following theories as reasons why my people don’t feed the machines!
For starters, many of your local shopping places only accept cash. The owner of the small Super Market may not yet have purchased (or be willing to pay for the services of) a debit system. Has he ever stopped at a taqueria in the Mexican part of town, ordered his carne asada burrito only to be told, “Cash only.” He should have read the sign near the cash register, huh? I’ve done this myself a few times. Lucky for us, the restaurant owner has conveniently placed an ATM inside his place. Only $2.00 for $20.00. Caramba! Why else do Mexicans need to cash their checks at the bank as soon as possible? To pay the rent! Yes, many of them take their envelope to the leasing office, to their landlord, and pay cash. Some prefer to use a money order. Money orders weren’t free last I checked, so this is just a surefire way to have less money to work with over the course of many years.
My other theory is that Mexicans don’t trust banks or their ATMs with their money. “Those bankers are going to rob me!” I kid. There is some distrust between banks, bankers and Mexicans, but I think it’s really more about the possibility that a lot of my people are not as technologically inclined as other ethnic groups, especially the older generations. Monitoring an online account for funds is difficult to do without a home internet connection as well. However…and this defies my theory…just about everyone has a smartphone these days! You can simply upload an app to easily verify your checking account. I don’t know. I am a confused Mexican.
I guess walking into the bank to cash a check is better than paying for check cashing. So I congratulate anyone for choosing not to waste $1 out of every $100 somewhere in the city. Still, time is equally valuable. Spending 15 minutes in line to cash a check at a bank twice a month equals 30 minutes a month or 6 hours a year! That’s dead time, like sitting in traffic, you’d rather get it back. Do not waste your time!
If you think Mexican banking habits are strange, try this one: Mexicans use this savings system called tanda. Says so. A family member or friend gets, say, nine others to agree to contribute $100 a week to a batch or tanda, and each week someone gets the “$1,000.” Actually $900 plus your $100 that you don’t send to the organizer on your shift. Numbers are randomly assigned. So if you have the number 1, you get the $1000 in the first week. If you have number 10, you pay $100 for 9 weeks and get $1000 in week 10. Do you get it?
The idea behind a tanda is to commit to saving not only for your own sake, but also for the sake of others. You may be disappointed in not sticking to a budget, but would you disappoint Uncle Joe or Grandma Mary? Probably not, unless he didn’t mind being ostracized for not paying his share. Can you imagine constantly receiving the evil eye from your grandmother at the Sunday barbecue gathering? oh boy.
My mother participated in tandas many years ago. When she was a teenager, she thought tandas were cool; Today I question its usefulness. For one thing, can she trust each member to pay and pay on time? Can you trust that the organizer will be responsible enough to charge everyone and distribute the money to its rightful recipient each week? This is only half.
Aside from the forced savings, there’s the glaring lack of performance. A batch is essentially an unsecured bond of X weeks duration with a 0% yield! My people, why not open a Money Market account at least? You can get 0.88-1.0% right now with an MMA. Ally Bank is a perfect destination for your $X weekly savings. Than? Don’t you trust an online bank either? Do you trust Uncle José more? oh boy!