Millions of Americans, apparently, do use their bed as a bank. Figuratively, at least.
The findings: 8 percent of American households (about 17 million adults) don't use a bank. The FDIC calls them "unbanked." Most often, these are low-income households whose tenants don't think they have enough money to justify opening an account.Nearly 18 percent, or 21 million households, are "underbanked." They have a checking or savings account, but they've used alternative and higher-cost financial services. That means they've used store-bought money orders and check-cashing services, payday loans, rent-to-own agreements or pawn shops once or twice a year, or more. They might also have used a refund anticipation loan once in the past 5 years.
In Oregon, 6 percent are unbanked; 15 percent (or about 220,000 households) are underbanked. States with the highest proportion of underbanked homes are in the South. See what I'm talking about at this interactive map site.
Nationwide, Hispanics and African-Americans are much more likely to use these alternative systems and avoid banks than Whites or Asians.
Interestingly -- and alarmingly -- households with an annual income between $30,000 and $50,000 are almost as likely as lower-income households to use check-cashing, payday loans and other non-bank services. One in four middle-income households will use a non-bank service -- about the same ratio as among households making less than $30,000. They do this mostly out of convenience, speed and the ease of qualifying for payday loans. Unfortunately, they also cost more, generally speaking. A separate survey by consultant Aite Group found prepaid debit cards gaining favor among the underbanked.
Where do you fall? Why do you put your money in a bank? Why don't you? Here's what some banks are doing in response.