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Journal Article
Check cashers: moving from the fringes to the financial mainstream
Once relegated to the margins of the financial services industry, check cashing outlets (CCO's) are now more visible parts of the urban landscape. Check cashers offer convenient check clearing and bill payment services, mostly tailored to meet the needs of the "unbanked" in low-and moderate income communities. The industry has grown dramatically over the years and is generating new products and services to meet the needs of its niche clientele. While some argue that check cashers are offering marginalized lower income Americans more responsive products than those available from banks, ...
Journal Article
Landmark payday loan act in Illinois
On June 9, 2005, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich signed a landmark Payday Loan Reform Act that for the first time will regulate the payday loan industry in Illinois and strengthen protection to consumers, especially working families and members of the military against predatory and abusive practices. The Act became effective in December 2005. ; ?Payday loans are supposed to help working people cover unexpected costs and emergencies. They?re not supposed to break their bank accounts. We needed to do something about this, and we have achieved it,? said Gov. Blagojevich upon signing the law during a ...
Journal Article
Strategies for banking the unbanked: are they working?
Banks are looking at new approaches to serving the unbanked, but many barriers exist. KeyBank is a pioneer in offering banking services to the unbanked.
Journal Article
The latest frontiers for financial inclusion: Using mobile phones to reach the unbanked
The goal of community development should be to improve the lives of as many disadvantaged people as possible with a minimum amount of resources. The field can achieve this goal by identifying those community development projects that are both efficient and have significant social impacts, and then scaling up. However, without effective evaluations, it is impossible to gauge progress. Effective evaluations include randomized experiments and well-designed observational studies, both of which can measure the impact to society. This article analyzes the best evaluation methods in international ...
Journal Article
Financial access options for the underserved
This issue of Banking and Community Perspectives explores the features and limitations of two of the existing products and services for the financially underserved--prepaid cards and small-dollar loans.
Report
The 2016 and 2017 surveys of consumer payment choice: summary results
Despite the introduction of new technology and new ways to make payments, the Survey of Consumer Payment Choice (SCPC) finds that consumer payment behavior has remained stable over the past decade. In the 10 years of the survey, debit cards, cash, and credit cards consistently have been the most popular payment instruments. In 2017, U.S. consumers ages 18 and older made 70 payments per month on average. Debit cards accounted for 31.8 percent of those monthly payments, cash for 27.4 percent, and credit cards for 23.2 percent. The SCPC continues to measure new ways to shop and pay and found ...
Report
The 2014 survey of consumer payment choice: summary results
In 2014, the average number of U.S. consumer payments per consumer per month decreased to 66.1, in a statistically insignificant decline from 67.9 in 2013. The number of payments made by paper check continued to decline, falling by 0.7 to 5.0 checks per month, while the number of electronic payments (online banking bill payments, bank account number payments, and deductions from income) increased by 0.6 to 6.9 of these payments per month. The monthly shares of debit cards (31.1 percent), cash (25.6 percent), and credit cards (23.3 percent) continued to be largest; while the share of ...
Report
Financial inclusion and consumer payment choice
This report examines similarities and differences among three groups of consumers: those without a checking or savings account (unbanked), bank account adopters who have used alternative financial services (AFS) in the past 12 months (underbanked), and bank account adopters who did not use AFS in the past 12 months (fully banked). Consumers in the three groups have different demographic characteristics, income, and payment behaviors: ?The payment behavior of the underbanked is similar to that of the fully banked. ?Unbanked consumers make fewer payments per month than the fully banked and the ...
Report
The 2015 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice: summary results
The 2015 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice (SCPC) was implemented using a new longitudinal panel, the Understanding America Study (UAS), and results are not yet comparable to the 2008?2014 SCPC. In 2015, U.S. consumers made 68.9 payments per month. Debit cards remained the most popular payment instrument among U.S. consumers in 2015, accounting for 32.5 percent of their monthly payments, followed by cash (27.1 percent) and credit or charge cards (21.3 percent). For nonbills, consumers used cash and debit equally?about one-third of the time for each. For bills, consumers used payment cards for ...