"The research uncovered a number of interesting findings. Key among them was that multicultural consumers ranked considerably higher than whites in six key areas: optimism, hustle, living in the moment, worry, generosity and community spirit," CUNA Mutual wrote. "These rankings resulted in important — and sometimes surprising — differences both in which financial products/services multicultural consumers buy and how and why they buy them."

Among other things, the study also found:

• Hispanic consumers were nine times more likely to get a small business loan within the next five years.
• African American and Hispanic consumers were twice as likely to research financial products and services on mobile and call to ask about financial products,
• African Americans and Hispanics were more than twice as likely as Whites to believe they'll have to work more than one job to accomplish their financial goals,
• White and Asian consumers might be more likely to purchase passive investment products such as mutual funds, but Hispanic and African American consumers might be more active investors.

CUNA Mutual also found that convenience and flexibility were twice as important to Hispanic and African American consumers, even if it meant paying higher rates and fees.

Although most people worry about money at some point, the study found differences in what specific things people tend to worry about. White consumers tended to worry most about healthcare and funding retirement, for example, but "people of color start there and keep piling on," the study noted. Hispanic consumers were the most worried, it said.

"One of the most interesting things we uncovered: That credit unions could better meet member needs by learning from alternative lending sources, like payday lenders," CUNA Mutual reported. "Although these companies typically have a bad reputation in the credit union space, the reality is they fill a member need. Credit unions could do a better job serving all consumers if they borrowed a page or two from their playbooks."

One thing credit unions should not do, however, is rely solely on demographics to determine what members want.

"When examining the research findings, it's important to remember a person is made up of many unique cultural aspects," CUNA Mutual Group Manager of Multicultural Business Strategy Opal Tomashevska noted. "Be careful not to over-generalize or create stereotypes from this information and apply it to all members of a certain group. The data shows trends and significant differences, but does not attempt to speak for every individual."

Not all members of group behave the same way, it added.

"We must acknowledge race and ethnicity are sensitive topics and discrimination and prejudice are real. It is imperative for us to be aware that we can marginalize whole communities with something as simple as how we accept bill payments or the language we use in our communications," the study said. "We are working hard as an organization to become more aware and responsive and urge credit unions to do the same."