One of four households in America are underbanked or unbanked in 2013 according to the FDIC. Many households are paying high costs with alternative financial service firms to manage their money. The FDIC meets this Thursday to discuss Safe Accounts and Prepaid Accounts to give options to people to have relationships with federally insured institutions. Some banks are offering these types of accounts, but the impact is minimal with a huge segment of the population falling into at least the underbanked category. The reality is the financial literacy crisis of the population, and the relaxed attitude of the banking industry is a crisis being noticed by policy makers in Washington. However, Thursday's meeting will tackle a pinpoint of a problem that extends beyond access to accounts. Financial Literacy is the true catalyst behind the current underbanked and unbanked crisis in America. Unless that problem is address, the FDIC may have good intentions, but their efforts will be futile … [Read more...]
