Commercial Federal Corp. has started offering a money transfer service and an educational video geared to the Hispanic market.
Money can be sent to 13 Latin American countries through the service, which began Friday, the $11.5 billion-asset company said. The service is called VanComFed, a Spanish abbreviation for "go with Commercial Federal."
The Omaha company is offering the service at an introductory rate of $6 for each transaction of up to $2,800 until May 10. After that, the price will be $6 per transaction for Commercial Federal customers and $8 for noncustomers.
Laura Castro de Cortez, the vice president and director of Latino banking, said the average amount of money sent to Latin America from Commercial Federal's markets is about $300. Competitors charge between $12 and $14 a transaction, she said.
Commercial Federal also said it has completed a Spanish-language video entitled "Yo se," meaning "I know," to teach Hispanic immigrants the basics of banking. It will begin distributing the video in two weeks to social service agencies and nonprofits that work with Latinos.
Ms. Castro de Cortez said Commercial Federal expects to distribute 2,500 DVDs in the first two months and already has plans to make a second batch of videos.
