Pronto Envios is a money-transfer service that, according to the state’s Division of Banks, occasionally neglected to actually send along the cash it took in.

The division recently ordered the New York-based company to cease operations in the commonwealth after two customers complained that the Lawrence Pronto Envios office failed to pass along their money – $100 and $180, respectively – to intended recipients in the Dominican Republic.

And Massachusetts isn’t the only place with a bone to pick with Pronto Envios, which specializes in money transfers to Latin America. Several other states, including Connecticut, nailed the company for similar problems.

Immigrants often choose money transfer companies like Pront Envios over banks and credit unions because they feel uncomfortable with, or outright distrust, financial institutions.

According to Appleseed, a nationwide nonprofit social justice network based in Washington, D.C., immigrants sent $47 billion in international money transfers in 2008, mostly to Latin America.

But only about 10 percent of that business went through banks or credit unions.

Betsy Cavendish, Appleseed’s executive director, while stressing that many wire transfer companies are reputable, said it’s easier for them to rip off customers because they are mostly unregulated. Sometimes they fail to send the whole amount in a timely manner – as in the charges leveled at Pronto Envios – and also often charge large, undisclosed fees, both to senders and recipients.

Pronto Envios did not return calls seeking comment.

The existence of money transfer services like Pronto Envios provides one less reason for a potential customer to walk into a bank in the first place, said Anthony Caruso, senior vice president for retail banking at the Bank of Canton. This makes it even more difficult to publicize a bank’s advantages, which already requires a significant investment of time and money.

Bank of Canton actively sought to foster familiarity with local immigrant groups and underbanked minorities, Caruso said. Through its involvement with the Randolph Community Partnership, the bank offered classes and events in the bank itself, including a class on job interviewing.

That kind of relationship serves a purpose in its own right, but also drew people into the bank for the first time, and fostered trust.

“It’s a matter of getting them in and getting them to understand that banks are there to provide a service,” Caruso said.