More Blacks, Hispanics in the US Added Bank Accounts During Pandemic

Bloomberg — The share of American households with no checking or savings account declined during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new government report.

In 2021, the unbanked rates of White, Black and Hispanic households fell from 2019, the last time the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. conducted a similar survey. The measure for homes the banking watchdog’s report classified as Asian increased.

About 4.5% of US households lacked a bank or credit union account as of last year, the FDIC said, the lowest level since the survey began in 2009. The decline was in part due to people using banks to receive benefits and government support during the pandemic, according to the acting head of the agency.

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“During the pandemic, consumers opened bank accounts to access relief funds and other benefits quickly and securely,” FDIC Acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg said in a statement.

The FDIC survey found that many newly banked households said that receiving a government benefit was part of their decision to open a bank account.

The agency said that while there remains a “sizable gap” between the unbanked rates of White households and those identified as racial minorities, the new findings showed some improvement.

The rate of White households that were unbanked stood at 2.1% in 2021, compared with 2.5% in 2019, according to the report. Meanwhile, the rate for Hispanic households last year was 9.3%, compared with 12.2% two years earlier.

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For Black households in 2021, the rate fell to 11.3% in 2021 versus 13.8% in 2019, the watchdog said. The measure for Asian households increased to 2.9% from 1.7% in 2019, according to the study.

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