Connect
Community Reinvestment
America's Top Housing Official Must Aid Struggling Homeowners
May 14, 2012 — The Huffington Post
by:Preeti Vissa
If one man can be described as absolutely key to solving the... [ More ]
Losing end
May 02, 2012 — San Francisco Chronicle
by: Andrew S. Ross
Losing end: That 9.8 percent figure ... [ More ]
Study finds more bank branches, but only in higher-income areas
May 01, 2012 — A new study finds the number of bank and thrift offices has risen 8.4% since 2006 in areas with median incomes of $10... [ More ]
Access to Financial Services
People of Color More Likely to be Unbanked
Over 25 million households in America do not have bank accounts, of which 80 percent are people of color: Blacks (46 percent) and Latinos (34 percent).[1] This means that people of color are 4 to 5 times more likely than Whites to be unbanked.
"Unbanked" or "underbanked" are the terms used to describe communities and individuals who do not participate in the financial services industry, or who participate minimally. Unbanked individuals do not have checking or savings bank accounts, and are therefore limited to accessing check cashing and loan services from independent, usually predatory check cashers and payday lenders.
The greater propensity of people of color to be unbanked has several possible causes:
- Lack of bank branches conveniently located in lower-income communities of color
- Lack of trust in the community for banking institutions
- Minimum loan amount requirements at traditional banks too high for needs of lower-income customers
- Insufficient income to open an account in institutions with minimum balance requirements
- Lack of marketing by the banks targeted at communities of color
Greenlining negotiates directly with top officials from banks to ensure that they are offering their asset-building services to all communities, and to help them develop products and policies that can better serve lower-income communities.