FDIC Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households

In January 2009, the FDIC sponsored a special supplement to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS) to collect data to determine the number of U.S. households that lack a deposit account with a financial institution (checking or savings account) and reasons for not having/using a bank account. In addition, the survey identifies for all households the extent to which they utilize alternative financial services such as non-bank money orders, non-bank check-cashing services, payday loans, rent-to-own agreements, pawn shops, tax fund anticipation loans, and either pre-paid or payroll debit cards. Coupled with the rich demographic data available through the CPS, this survey presents a wealth of previously unavailable data on extent to which consumers utilize depository vs. non-bank financial services providers at the national, state and large metropolitan statistical area (MSA) levels. The CPS is a monthly survey of about 54,000 households representative of the U.S. civilian, non-institutionalized population.