VivirLatino

If a report read on a local Utah television station’s web site is to be believed, it seems that bank Washington Mutual is not accepting government-issued “driving privilage cards” as identification for immigrants interested in banking at their establishment:

Latinos that have driving privilege cards are finding that Washington Mutual Bank location won’t recognize their cards as a legitimate form of identification.

Community Activist Tony Yapias says he’s heard about the problem in Ogden and Salt Lake City branches. “I think it’s unfortunate for Washington Mutual Bank to not accept it.”

I think it’s unfortunate, too. WAMU is one of the banks that I do my banking at, and I have been a rabid consumer evangelist for them for years, talking them up to my friends on their excellent customer service, low fees and all-around no-hassle way of doing business.

On a less personal level, we are talking about a business that spends hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising campaigns targeting not only the Latino market, but the monolingual Spanish-speaking market (read: immigrants), and that is competing in that arena with every other major bank in the U.S.

Bad move, I say. People need to feel safe when dealing with their money, not judged. Not accepting a card that has been accepted by the government as a legitimate form of identification seems to me to be not only as bad business, but bad community ambassadorship. A standard rule of business: don’t piss off a community to whom you are spending millions to market, and don’t burn the bridges you’ve worked so hard to build.

Via / Hispanic Tips and KSL.com