• “For those of us who have been following the demographics around the country, we’ve seen this shift coming for a long time,” said Marisa Calderon, chief of community finance and mobility for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

• Lenders with in-house cultural competencies in reaching the Hispanic market will thrive, said Calderon, but those slower to recognize the need will face challenges. She recommended lenders diversify their workforces, not just at the entry-level, but among the decision-makers, too.

• Calderon agreed. “The Latino population is not a monolith,” she said. “Lenders need a hyper-local marketing strategy.”

• When it comes to marketing to the demographic, Calderon said, “Lenders ought to have a budget at least as proportionate as the size of the opportunity.”

• Calderon also warned against using the same stock photos used in ads for a more general population because they won’t necessarily match the way Latinos live, which may favor large family gatherings.

• “There’s a greater tendency to live in multigenerational households” that could include grandparents and aunts as well as parents and children, Calderon said. “They’re intentional parts of the household and can contribute to the mortgage,” she said.

• “There’s more reliance on cash,” Calderon said. “It’s less acceptable culturally to carry debt.”

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