Comun has no branches, but has a team that supports its customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without leaving their homes, in three different languages.

Building a better future for immigrants in the U.S. is a fundamental tenet of Comun's mission. Accessible and easy-to-understand banking options are a key part of the immigrant journey. However, options are scarce.

Complex, cumbersome and costly choices are the norm. Activities that may seem trivial and intuitive to the U.S.-born are overwhelming and confusing to a newly arrived immigrant. Everything from setting up direct deposit with an employer to sending money home, making payments for goods and services or understanding how to build a credit score seems too complex for anyone who has never had to do this in the U.S., let alone at all.

Hidden fees and costly commissions add a level of stress when starting a financial life in the U.S. Between minimum account balances, monthly fees, overdraft charges, large check deposit fees, extortionate international transfer fees and everything else, maintaining and using a U.S. bank account can be costly. For manual workers, this can represent a significant percentage of their salary.

Physical locations of traditional banks can also be scarce in some areas. Since opening a bank account or depositing a check or cash into the account must be done at the branch, this is a significant burden for someone living in a remote area. Many immigrants, sometimes working on remote farms or factories, live in areas miles away from the nearest bank branch. Transportation costs to those branches add to the already high fees of using and maintaining an account.

Even if the banking services provided were more intuitive, digital and at a lower cost, another major barrier remains. Obtaining the necessary documentation to open a bank account can also hinder access to fair and simple financial services. Immigrants fortunate enough to have work authorization still need to gather important documentation that is not always available to them. For those who have come to the U.S. seeking asylum or better job opportunities by following a more unconventional path, the documents required to open an account are often prohibitive.

Building a 100% digital banking platform to solve the aforementioned problems is part of what Comun seeks to achieve because we believe in helping to unlock social mobility. But a digital, low-cost, intuitive platform is not enough. To navigate this process, immigrants need help, and help is best found in a Community that understands them when they need it most.

That is why not only our customers are part of our Community, but also the people who help them 24/7 through our application, social networks, WhatsApp or by phone. Beyond solving an immediate problem, the support provided goes beyond. It teaches and educates, empathizes and strives to foster a sense of Community of people who understand them, in terms they understand and in the language they speak. This is the core of true digital community banking. Our team helps them set up their direct deposit, connect to Zelle, get refunds for charges they don't agree with and everything in between.

In Comun, the first step in this journey has begun. Our team in Merida, Mexico, is part of our community and the one we seek to serve. They are an extension of our mission and our digital platform, and a necessary ingredient to unlock social mobility for millions of immigrants in the US.