October 20, 2020
https://www.fdic.gov/news/press-releases/2020/pr20113.html
For Release
WASHINGTON – A record 95 percent of U.S. households had a bank or credit union account in 2019, according to a new biennial survey and report released today by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). How America Banks: Household Use of Banking and Financial Services also found that a record low 5.4 percent of U.S. households were unbanked in 2019.
Since 2009, the FDIC has measured the banked and unbanked populations in the U.S. and studied household use of banking and financial products and services, the most comprehensive analysis of its kind.
“It is encouraging that a record number of households had bank accounts in 2019, though we continue to pursue actions to create a more inclusive banking system,” said FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams. “New products and technologies have the potential to bring even more people into the banking system and the FDIC will encourage this important innovation.”
In partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau, the FDIC conducted the survey in June 2019, collecting responses from nearly 33,000 households. The FDIC found that between 2017 and 2019, more than 1.5 million new households opened bank accounts, and the use of mobile banking as the primary means of accessing accounts more than doubled.
The 2019 survey also asked all households – both banked and unbanked – about their use of credit provided by banks and credit provided by nonbanks. In 2019, almost three in four households used bank credit and fewer than one in 20 used nonbank credit.
To read the entire online article: