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The number of American households that were unbanked last yr dropped to its lowest level since 2009, a dip due in role to people opening accounts to receive financial assistance during the pandemic, a new report says.

Roughly 4.five% of U.S. households – or 5.9 1000000 – didn’t accept a checking or savings business relationship with a bank or credit union in 2021, a tape low, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s nigh recent survey of unbanked and underbanked households.

Roughly 45% of households that received a stimulus payment, jobless benefits or other government assist after the showtime of the pandemic in March, 2020 said those funds helped compel them to open up an account, according to the biennial report which has been conducted since 2009.

“Safe and affordable banking concern accounts provide a way to bring more Americans into the banking system and will continue to play an of import role in advancing economic inclusion for all Americans,” FDIC interim chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said in a statement.

A lack of banking options delayed some households from getting federal payments aimed at helping the state atmospheric condition the economic fallout from the COVID-19 health crunch.

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The FDIC initiated an educational campaign to go more Americans to open an business relationship to enable the direct deposit of those funds. And banks such equally Majuscule One and Ally Fiscal ended  overdraft and other fees that have been a key barrier to some Americans accessing the banking arrangement.

What does it mean to be unbanked?

A household is deemed unbanked when no ane in the home has an account with a bank or credit marriage. That share of households has dropped by about half since 2009. And since 2011, when 8% of U.S. households were unbanked, the highest since the outset of the survey, and the record low reached in 2021, roughly one-half of the drop was due to a shift in the fiscal circumstances of American households the FDIC says.

Who are the underbanked?

Those who have a checking or savings business relationship, merely also use financial alternatives like check cashing services are considered underbanked. The underbanked represented xiv% of U.S. households, or 18.seven one thousand thousand, last year.

Why are people unbanked or underbanked?

Many of those who are unbanked say they can’t beget to have an account because of the fees for insufficient funds and overdrafts that are tacked on when account balances fall short. Roughly 29% said fees or not having the required minimum remainder were the primary reasons they didn’t have a checking or savings account, as compared to 38% who cited those obstacles in 2019.

Are some groups more probable to be unbanked?

The numbers of the unbanked were greater among households that included those who were working age and disabled, lower income, included a unmarried mother, or were Blackness or Hispanic. Among white households for instance, ii% didn’t have a bank account last yr as compared to 11% and 9% of their Blackness and Hispanic counterparts.

Meanwhile, nearly 15% of households with a working age member who had a disability were unbanked compared to virtually 4% of other households. And  well-nigh xvi% of households with a single female parent were unbanked as compared to almost ii% of married couples who lacked an account.

 “These gaps attest there’south still a lot of opportunity to aggrandize participation beyond the population in the banking arrangement,” Keith Ernst, Acquaintance Director of Consumer Research and Examination Analytics at the FDIC, said during a media call about the study.

Volition the number of unbanked ascension if the U.Southward. has a recession?

Perhaps.

“During the last recession unbanked rates did indeed go upwardly,” Karyen Chu, chief of the Banking Inquiry Section at the Center for Financial Inquiry, said during the phone call.

Additionally, last year, homes where the head of household was out of piece of work were most five times more likely to not have a bank account as compared to those where the household head was employed.

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“To the extent that income goes downwards … that has by and large been associated with increases in unbanked rates,’’ Chu said.

Follow Charisse Jones on Twitter @charissejones