Number of ‘unbanked’ falls to record low

NEW YORK — The number of Americans who do not have a bank account fell to a record low last year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Tuesday, a sign that the economic fortunes of the country’s most vulnerable continues to improve.

In 2017, approximately 6.5 percent of U.S. households were unbanked, defined as not having a primary bank account. That is down from 7 percent in 2015 and a high of 8.2 percent in 2011. That translates into 14.1 million adults who do not have a bank account.

Being unbanked can make everyday issues more challenging. Saving money in a secure place becomes difficult, doing any sort of online transaction is nearly impossible, and bills need to be routinely paid through expensive check cashers. Without a bank account, it’s impossible to perform other financial transactions, such as using credit cards, buying a house, or even taking out a payday loan.

The reasons for not having a bank account remained steady, with “not having enough money” the No. 1 reason. Not trusting banks was another top reason.

The biggest improvement was among black and Hispanic households. The number of black households without a bank account fell to 16.9 percent last year, according to the FDIC, while 14 percent of Hispanic households were without a bank account. Those figures are down from more than 20 percent of black households and 18 percent of Hispanic households in 2013.

Roughly 19 percent of U.S. households are considered by the FDIC to be “underbanked,” which means they have a primary bank account but use nontraditional services like pawn shops, payday and auto title loans, check cashers, and money transfer services.