The number of Americans who do not have a bank account fell to a record low last year, as the proliferation of online-only banks and an improving economy is bringing more Americans into the traditional financial system.
A new report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued Tuesday found that 4.5% of Americans — representing approximately 5.9 million households — were without a bank account in 2021. That's the lowest level since theThe decline in unbanked households may partially be attributed to the coronavirus pandemic. States and the federal government distributed trillions of dollars in stimulus to Americans after COVID-19 shut down the U.S. economy in March 2020.
Black and Hispanic households still remain much more likely to not have a bank account, although those figures are improving. Roughly 11.3% of Black households are without a bank account, down from 13.8% two years earlier. Among Hispanic households, that figure declined to 9.3% from 12.2%. Other households had privacy and trust issues regarding banks. Major companies like Amazon have been tracking consumer data via credit card usage for a while now, butAmericans outside the traditional financial system face numerous obstacles with their daily finances, which is why policymakers push so hard to get unbanked households to open a savings or checking account.
Acharya said clients usually take a minimum of five months to build enough credit with banks in the United States to sign up for an account. In the interim, Acharya said they try to educate clients on how to build up to a debit card and use their Electronic Benefits Transfer card. Delaware, New York, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, and Rhode Island all passed bills mandating that businesses accept cash, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. More than a dozen states have introduced cash-mandate bills since 2020. At least three bills in Republican-majority states Florida, Mississippi and North Dakota have died in committee, as well as two bills in mostly Democrat-held New Hampshire and Wisconsin.