FDIC Looks at American Banking Habits

A Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) study out today says that 8.5 percent of Missouri households did not have a bank accounting in 2015 and that 22.3 percent were underbanked. For Kansas, the figures were 7.6 percent unbanked and 18.3 percent underbanked.

Nationwide, the figures were 7 percent unbanked and 19.9 percent underbanked.

To be “underbanked” means that a household has a bank account but has also obtained a financial service or product outside the banking system, which can be accompanied by high interest rates and budget-burdening fees.

The use of such alternatives “places an undue financial burden on those least able to afford it,” according CHES, Inc., a government-approved, Kansas City-based non-profit that provides financial, credit and housing education, counseling and coaching services to low and moderate income individuals.

According to the FDIC study, there were no statistically significant changes in the numbers for Kansas and Missouri since the previous survey which covered 2013 data.