Washington - Rep. Joe Baca (D-Rialto) reintroduced legislation today that would allow credit unions to offer their services to non-members, allowing thousands of underserved and unbanked households to enter the economic mainstream.

Currently credit unions can only offer their services, including remittances, money orders and check-cashing services, to individuals in the field of membership. One of the biggest effects of the bill will be that it will promote competition in the money transfer industry, resulting in lower fees to consumers.

The bill will also allow unbanked immigrants to use credit unions to send remittances to families in their home countries. In 2003, immigrants in California sent $9.6 billion in remittances to Latin America.

"More than 12 million Hispanic immigrants send money back to their home countries on a regular basis. Half of these people do not have bank accounts or credit cards." Said Baca.

"Unfortunately, the cost of sending remittances can be very high. We need to lower the cost of remittance services by allowing more individuals to join credit unions and promoting competition in the money transfer industry. By allowing credit unions to compete, we will bring huge savings to individuals transferring money and provide more money for those who need it the most."

"The money people save by using credit unions can be reinvested in our economy, which helps all Americans."

Currently, companies like Western Union and MoneyGram dominate the remittance industry. These companies also charge the highest fees for their services, as much as 25 percent of the amount the customer is sending. Credit unions typically have much lower charges. Reducing the cost of remittances to 5 percent of the amount sent would free up more than $1 billion for the poorest households in the U.S., Mexico, and Central America next year alone.

"I am very proud of the legislation that I introduced today," said Rep. Baca. "Currently, over 10 million American households are unbanked, particularly in Hispanic and immigrant households. We are bringing millions and millions of people into the financial mainstream."