FDIC Report Shows Unbanked Consumers Opened Accounts During Pandemic

In a report released on October 25, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Martin Gruenberg announced that the number of American households without access to bank accounts has declined from 5.4% (in 2019) to 4.5% (in 2021). Of these previously unbanked consumers, 45% responded to an FDIC survey by saying that Covid-relief stimulus payments contributed to being able to open a bank account—meeting banks’ minimum balance requirements is reported as the biggest hurdle to banking—and nearly a third of respondents had started a new job. All told, 1.2 million people who previously couldn’t open a checking or savings account were able to do so.

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