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The article reports on a study of a microfinance organization installed in Mixteca, a rural region subject to strong movements of migration. It illustrates the potential risks raised by the building of a system of financial intermediation in an area where circulation of liquidity assets is intense and shows the limits of that system for lowering the vulnerability of households and reducing the incidence of poverty in these localities. Two levels of analysis are described. The first examines the institutional challenges and looks at the risks of deficiencies in the credit and savings services. The second approach uses an analysis of the use of financial services of the microfinance system. It reveals the limitations in terms of diversification of economic activities and similarly of reducing the vulnerability of households in a context where migration stands out as the favoured strategy for diversification of revenues and reduction of vulnerability.