FDIC: A Quarter Of Americans Have Little Or No Bank Access

The FDIC reports that millions of Americans have no access to a bank. The agency report “reveals that more than one quarter (25.6 percent) of all households in the United States are unbanked or underbanked and that those households are disproportionately low-income and/or minority.”

“Access to an account at a federally insured institution provides households with an important first step toward achieving financial security – the opportunity to conduct basic financial transactions, save for emergency and long-term security needs, and access credit on affordable terms,” stated Sheila Bair, Chairman of the FDIC. “By better understanding the households that make up this group – who they are and their reasons for being unbanked or underbanked, we will be better positioned to help them take that first step.”