FAQs
Q. What is the cost of membership in Familia Primero™?
A. It is $19.95 per year plus a one time card issue fee of $5 for two Master Card debit cards. One of these is for you and the other for sending to your family. This is a very special rate for our members only. Usually the cards are sold for $9.95 for the first one and $5 for the second one…as the lowest price available. Using the cards, you will be able to transfer money from your card to your family’s card for only $2.95. Use the telephone or Internet…whichever is easiest for you. Full instructions, in Spanish, are sent to you with your cards and welcome letter.
Q. What is the procedure for joining now and getting a membership number?
A. Having this information means that you are at our web site. Simply go to the menu screen, at the bottom of any page, and select the Join Now button. The first item required, on this page, is a membership invitation code. You received this code in any article or advertising that you have seen or heard. Enter this code at the top of the page. If you did not write this down, call the newspaper or radio station that referred you to this site to get it.
Or, if you were referred by a friend, who is an existing member, use their membership number as the referring source. Enter your friend’s membership number in this code space. Complete the information on this page and click Continue. Next, you will be taken to a secure payment page. Simply complete payment information, using your credit or debit card and click on Submit.
If you do not yet have a credit or debit card, you may submit without payment, by sending a US postal money order to the address on the payment page. You will be issued your new member number by return e-mail or over the phone. Be sure to write your new member number on a separate piece of paper and include this information, with your money order, so that we can be sure to credit your membership as paid.
Q. You sound like a non-profit organization serious about positive change. Are you?
A. Passionate we are. Serious, about change, we are. Non profit, we are not. Why not? Just because an organization registers itself as “non-profit” does not, necessarily, mean that the organizers and officers live less ‘well’ that those of a for profit organization. It is true that the organizer / owners of a ‘for profit’ organization can make lots more money, at their customer’s expense, without government spying, too much, on their affairs. It is not true that such a company can do this at the low fees that we charge and with our free services.
The main reason for not declaring as a non-profit association is government red-tape, paperwork and reporting of our member’s private information. We all seem to be in too many computers already?! ;-<(
We seek to keep maximum privacy and freedom for our members. Having to comply with all of the bureaucratic rules of a non-profit organization does not accomplish this. Our members already understand that we are doing what is right, for their best interests, by simply looking at our fees and comparing with everybody else in the market place.
Familia Primero™ is all about you and we do not need a government ‘stamp of approval’ to demonstrate our intentions. This is also why we keep our membership private. Nobody can join without being referred by an existing member, using their membership number or using a code number given by an article or advertisement that is specific from Latino news media.
Q. How can you send money so cheaply ($2.95), when nobody else will do this for less than $5. You are already doing a lot. Why and how is this possible?
A. First of all, nobody… that means banks and/ or money senders wanted our kind of association, in one organized group, with determined leadership. With large numbers of members, banks, abusive money sending agents and even politicians will have to listen to us and do things differently. The easy answer is empowerment. Familia Primero™ is all about more empowerment for Latinos and the many issues effecting you… from unreasonable immigration laws that punish separate families, ignoring basic human rights…equal pay for equal work…elimination of “redlining” and the many other issues effecting you and your families daily lives. Why would the bankers and other money sending agents want to see the kinds of social changes that we are creating?
Large and growing numbers, of members, allow us to operate at much lower fees than would otherwise be possible. The key has been the promise of a large membership making it possible to finally drive strategic alliances that permit us to do what was necessary to lower money sending fees.
Latinos have never had much power nor, for the most part, knew how to use what little power we did have! Now we are gaining some of this thing called empowerment, with our own ‘posse’ of thousands of Familia Primero™ members!
Much more interesting is that we will now have the tools and the will to use these tools to help us creatively use our numbers to bring about needed, positive change. Our empowerment increases as we tell all of our friends, family, neighbors and co-workers the good news and why it is so important for them to become a member of Familia Primero™
We cannot replace all of the bad, with the good, in just a few months. However, we can make an immediate start by sending money to Mexico and other Latino countries for only $2.95 instead $10-$20. By helping you to keep more of your hard earned money in your pocket, instead of giving it to the bank or money sender, Familia Primero™ is off to a very good start! We will continue adding services and educational opportunities to further improve the lives of our members. You can help! Please tell everybody you know about us!
Q. What do I need to be able to send money to my family for only $2.95 transfer fees?
A. Your own, private, MasterCard™ debit card…activated, with money on it, is how this is accomplished. This card sells for $9.95 to $39.95. However, it is issued for only $5 to members of Familia Primero™. We include the second card needed, for your family, for Free! It would also be helpful if you have access to a computer with Internet service. However, if this is not possible, you may use any telephone to complete your transactions, over a secure phone system, in a few minutes.
Q. Will there still be the usual bank currency exchange rate?
A. Yes, but this is true, all over the world, in every currency. The banks offset their currency fluctuation risk by charging approximately a three percent discount. However, many, like the ones supposedly charging only $5 to send money, charge similar to a travel exchange rate of 7 %! They try to hide this but it is always the same thing. This is why we are so opposed to high fees for processing the transfer of your money! It is just plain wrong! The banks already make enough money! $2.95 maximum, no matter how much money you send is your first reward for being a member of Familia Primero™.
Q. How secure is my money transfer?
A. The only way that your money transfer will work, on-line, is through the banking system which must be secured in order to work. Your transfer is completely secure bank card to bank card. Your transfer can only be made through the electronic banking system and authorized exchange rate in Mexico. To accomplish this, we must only collect your transfer information and method of payment with what is known as an encrypted, secure sockets setting.
Q. What kind of receipt or confirmation that my transfer was successful do I receive?
A. You receive an online or secure telephone operator receipt number immediately.
Q. How is my family notified that their money is on their card?
A. You simply call them and tell that there is now how much placed on their card.
Q. Will there be any future fees for me to pay?
A. No. Familia Primero™ is not about how much money can squeezed from you. We are not the bank or the money transfer company that we have all been used to for much too long.
Q. What are other membership benefits of joining Familia Primero™?
A. We are working on value added projects such as lower phone cost and educational opportunities designed to help Latinos improve their economic conditions.
For any question (s) not answered here, please use our Contact Us page