others to "borrow" and "save" when they don't have access to other means of banking. But they can also be formed with no pressing financial obligations. Among Mexicans, these forms of informal savings associations play an important role sustaining the livelihood of many people living in both Mexico and the United States. Importantly, tandas are significant cultural practices among other Latino and Chicano populations in the U.S. According to cultural anthropologist Carlos Vélez-Ibáñezthe first scholar to critically examine this cultural practice among Mexicanstandas are based on mutual trust. As Vélez-Ibáñez explains, trust "shapes the expectations for relationships within broad networks of interpersonal links, in which intimacies, favors, goods, services, emotion, power, or information are exchanged". While tandas may play important economic roles among the Mexicans, they also serve important social and emotional functions in the everyday lives of people as they use it as a forum to improve their status among the fellow tanda members and their associates by religiously participating in the association. To state an example from Franziska Castillo's article Tandas: Informal loan clubs where trust meets need, she mentions about her 22 year-old neighbor, Gerardo, who joined a tanda after his aunt vouched for him in the group. “If I have the money on my hands, I will spend it,” Gerardo reasoned for joining the tanda. He can not let his association down since his grandmother, a lifelong tanda member, would be disappointed by him. These social constructs create a platform that encourages saving among the members. While an average American saves only five percent of their income yearly, Mexican immigrants generally send an estimated 11.5 percent of their income back to their native countries. According to anthropologist Lourdes Gutierrez Najera, tandas are common among Oaxacan migrants. For women, in particular, tandas facilitate social networks and makes them feel less isolated living in Los Angeles. As the women she quotes jokingly suggest, "the only reason women participate in tandas is for the gossip, otherwise it doesn't make sense." Consequently, participating in tanda gatherings make the separation from their hometown, Yalalag, more tolerable. Importantly, they also help migrants save money. Younger generations have created companies that modernize tandas with online platforms. (Yahoo Finance, for instance, created the short-lived Tanda app which allowed friends and families to participate in the same group without being closely located geographically.) These platforms help solve the problems that are generated by the traditional