Impact of Banking

Research and Reports

Conducted biennially since 2009 partly in response to a statutory mandate, the survey is administered in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau and collects information on bank account ownership; use of prepaid cards and nonbank online payment services; use of nonbank money orders, check cashing, and money transfer services; and use of bank and nonbank credit.

How ChexSystems Contributes to Systemic Financial Exclusion

OFE embarked on a research initiative to study reasons why people remain unbanked, including debt collection and bank levies, fears around asset limits in public benefit programs, and distrust of mainstream financial institutions. The focus of this follow-up report is another systemic barrier to banking: the denial of customer applications by banks based on negative consumer banking data – especially involuntary account closures – held in the records of bank account consumer account screening agencies like ChexSystems.

Systemic Barriers to Banking the Unbanked

Since founding the Bank On movement in 2006, the San Francisco Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) has found persistent disparities in banking access due to structural flaws in the financial system. This brief outlines four major systemic barriers to banking -- distrust of
mainstream financial institutions, ChexSystems records, debt in collections and asset limits -- as well as opportunities to remove these barriers and increase banking access.

How America Banks: Household Use of Banking and Financial Services

How America Banks informs the FDIC’s mission of maintaining public confidence in the U.S. financial system. The findings presented in this report come from the FDIC Survey of Household Use of Banking and Financial Services. This survey has been conducted biennially since 2009 in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau. The most recent survey was conducted in June 2019, collecting responses from almost 33,000 households.

BankOn Client Testimonials

“Until Oct 15, 2022 I was homeless for 8 years... I had a healthy financial situation and good credit. But my third husband led to bad credit because he charged up high bills, didn’t pay our utilities, and other things I didn’t know about. Finally when we divorced, he was forced to pay those bills he racked up...My financial well-being was based on who I was married to and now I’m doing it for myself and I feel empowered to take ownership over my success. I opened a savings account and [now I feel like I can be more of] a normal functioning human being. I have a great handle on a budget now...I know how to handle that...If you don’t have control over your money and know where it’s going, you don’t have control over anything. The more I know the more I have control over it and it’s very empowering.”

A client was incarcerated for two years and prior to his incarceration, he had his bills automatically deducted from his bank account. While he was incarcerated, his bills stopped getting paid and as a result went into collections. After he was released...his goal was to open up a bank account and be able to save for emergencies. After just three coaching sessions, the client was able to open up both a checking and savings account.