Jaime: Changing Financial Behaviors
From debt consolidation to financial freedom
Growing up in a low-income immigrant household, Jaime’s parents took care of their friends and family. Whenever they received a paycheck from the mechanic shop where his father worked, they spread the money around because money was for spending, not keeping. When his parents divorced, finances got even tighter. His mother in particular faced long bouts of unemployment and struggled to support Jaime and his younger brother and sister.
At the age of 16, Jaime got his first “real” job at a department store, a huge deal for his family. When his employer issued him a store credit card, he was filled with pride. He started collecting store credit cards because it made him feel good. “They were pretty,” he said. “I had a binder where I would store them.” He kept these first cards in his room, treating them like a collection of Boy Scout badges or rare stamps. When Jaime got another job working as an intern for the city, he was issued a credit card for the credit union. This one he used to finance a trip abroad. He charged airfare and lodging on a long trip across four countries. Like a lot of young people, he figured he would deal with it when he got back.
Citizenship is expensive. Just ask Wendell Largo who is a former school teacher from the Philippines. He earns $9 an hour working at Walgreens and brings in just $1,100 a month. For millions of hard-working, low-income immigrants in America, the sheer cost of $680 to submit the N-400 naturalization application makes U.S. citizenship an unattainable dream.
An immigrant from Mexico, Veronica came to Mission Asset Fund with a dream of owning a restaurant to serve her Mexico City favorites: gorditas, huitlacoche, huaraches and pozole. With a lot of ingenuity and the help from food entrepreneur incubator programs, Veronica’s business grew from small time catering to a traveling food truck.
After leaving her husband, Helen was an unbanked single mother of two when she came to Mission Asset Fund. An immigrant from Guatemala, Helen had no assets and no checking account, making her living situation less than ideal. Denied apartments because she didn’t have a deposit or a credit score, Helen and her small children rented rooms in three different apartments over the course of a year, some so full that even hallways became bedrooms. Riddled with excessive moisture and mold, these apartments left Helen’s daughter with a persistent cough.
Cuidado Infantil is a sunny childcare center on the third story of a San Francisco Victorian in the heart of the Mission District. For Ana, the owner of Cuidado and an immigrant from Nicaragua, establishing her childcare business wasn’t easy. With years of experience working in positions where she wasn’t allowed to take days off for being sick, she had dreams of owning her own childcare. But with little cash on hand and no real savings, she wasn’t sure where to turn.
For Mariela, owning her own home was a distant yet unrealistic dream. Overcome by the expenses that come with raising a family, it was challenging to save towards any goal, no matter the size. That all changed when she opened an Individual Development Account at Mission Asset Fund in August of 2009, an experience that was not only positive but life-changing. 
EN ESPANOL
