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| Name | FinComun (Servicios Financieros Comunitarios) |
| Where | In Mexico, in big cities: 100 branches in the cities of the Federal District (Mexico City), and in Toluca, Texcoco, Monterrey, San Luis Potosi, Puebla and Guadalajara |
| Type | Non Bank Finance Company |
| Person we met |
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| Website | www.fincomun.com.mx |
| Amount of loans | Individual loans from 500 to 200.000 MXN (from 30 to 12.000 €), the amount of the loan depends on the type of loan |
| Number of micro-entrepreneurs | more than 150.000 |
| Interest rates | from 3% to 7,8% monthly (the annual equivalent is from 42,6% to 146,2%), depending on the type of loan and the seniority of the customer. |
| Recovery rates | more than 90% |
| Percentage of women customers | 62% (even if there is not any discrimination, FinComun prefers lending to them instead of men) |
| Comments |
FinComun targets the poor people and the people who have low incomes in big cities of Mexico. It looks forward to propose the more complete services to its customers: it offers 3 different kinds of loans depending of the needs of the customer, and encourages also voluntary savings. It sells also an insurance for public transportation drivers (taxis and combis), and a car insurance. It offers as well a free service for receiving Remesas (money sent from the USA by Mexican workers to their family). The most represented loan in the portfolio is the business loan that is allowed for starting or growing a micro-business (from 1000 to 200.000 MXN with a duration from 1 to 18 months). The two other kinds of loans are emergency type loans (from 500 to 5000 MXN). Group loans are few and are not the target of FinComun anymore. FinComun does not analyse the business plan of each micro-entrepreneur, but simply trust them. The loan officer asks some references to the micro-entrepreneur and makes some investigations with his/her neighbors before allowing the loan. But FinCommun strictly follows the reimbursement of loans. From the first day of delay, it calls the customer and visits him/her if necessary. When the loan starts, the contract is signed in FinComun’s office, and the loan officer gives to the customer a pedagogic document explaining how a credit works, detailing what is the principle and what are the interests, and showing the schedule of reimbursement. The pay back can be weekly, every two weeks, or every 28 days. It can be done in FinComun offices or in a bank. A saving account can be open with only 10 pesos (less than 1 EUR), a residence proof and an ID. The interest rate was from 4.5% to 8.7% annual in January 2009, depending of the length and liquidity of the investment. The advertisement is made by the loan officer when he goes visiting people from doors to doors. Frequently meetings with customers allow FinComun to follow their evolution, to make sure that they pay their loan back, and to get information about potential customers. Every kind of business is represented. In every branch, FinComun offers to collect used batteries. Trash bags that it uses are totally recyclable as they are made with corn. |
| In the future | FinComun wants to develop the number of its products and the number of its branches in order to cover all the country. |
MFI met on the 12th of January 2009