A small part of the American population has no accounts of any sort, a group referred to as the "unbanked" in the literature addressing them. Their ranks are growing as well, as an FDIC study has found more than 800,000 individuals have gone bank-less since the last time they investigated it.
Unbanked millions
Many people think that a person or a family absolutely has to have a bank account to be able to financially survive life in these United States. It is not as far-fetched as one might believe, as a lot of people are paid in and conduct all transactions with cash, occasionally for nefarious reasons.
In the past, there have been a ton of mistakes made by the financial system in the country, and that is why some people are just completely against the system. They only keep away from a banking account because they are staying away from the system.
About 10 million people fall into this class, called "unbanked," and the group is increasing, according to CNN.
More people joining
There was a study done by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2009. It looked at the unbanked and the underbanked, which involves all people who do not use banks but use other financial institutions such as payday lenders.
According to Businessweek, the survey showed that there were 9 million people, or 7.7 percent of households, that did not have bank accounts. In 2011, that number increased to 10 million households or 8.2 percent of the country.
About 88.5 percent of people in the country have a checking account while 69.2 percent have a savings account, according to Fox Business. A number of people use other providers to have their accounts though.
Considering reasons
According to CNN, approximately 33 percent of respondents in the FDIC's survey of the unbanked reported not having enough cash on a regular basis to maintain a bank account. A further 21 percent reported neither wanting nor needing a banking account; 7.7 percent reported not wanting to deal with banks and 5.4 percent reported that minimum balances were too high or that fees were too costly, or both.
A further 6.6 percent reported having a negative history with banks or lacked proper identification needed to open an account and 6.4 percent of respondents had an account closed by a bank due to overdrafts or overdue fees.
Of the unbanked, 12 percent used pawn shops, cash lenders or personal loan companies during the last 30 days before the survey and 59 percent had used them in the last year, according to Fox Business. About 18 percent of respondents used prepaid cards for money. Alternative financial services seem to be what the unbanked used.
Unbanked millions
Many people think that a person or a family absolutely has to have a bank account to be able to financially survive life in these United States. It is not as far-fetched as one might believe, as a lot of people are paid in and conduct all transactions with cash, occasionally for nefarious reasons.
In the past, there have been a ton of mistakes made by the financial system in the country, and that is why some people are just completely against the system. They only keep away from a banking account because they are staying away from the system.
About 10 million people fall into this class, called "unbanked," and the group is increasing, according to CNN.
More people joining
There was a study done by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2009. It looked at the unbanked and the underbanked, which involves all people who do not use banks but use other financial institutions such as payday lenders.
According to Businessweek, the survey showed that there were 9 million people, or 7.7 percent of households, that did not have bank accounts. In 2011, that number increased to 10 million households or 8.2 percent of the country.
About 88.5 percent of people in the country have a checking account while 69.2 percent have a savings account, according to Fox Business. A number of people use other providers to have their accounts though.
Considering reasons
According to CNN, approximately 33 percent of respondents in the FDIC's survey of the unbanked reported not having enough cash on a regular basis to maintain a bank account. A further 21 percent reported neither wanting nor needing a banking account; 7.7 percent reported not wanting to deal with banks and 5.4 percent reported that minimum balances were too high or that fees were too costly, or both.
A further 6.6 percent reported having a negative history with banks or lacked proper identification needed to open an account and 6.4 percent of respondents had an account closed by a bank due to overdrafts or overdue fees.
Of the unbanked, 12 percent used pawn shops, cash lenders or personal loan companies during the last 30 days before the survey and 59 percent had used them in the last year, according to Fox Business. About 18 percent of respondents used prepaid cards for money. Alternative financial services seem to be what the unbanked used.
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