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

Roughly 4.5% of U.Due south. households – or 5.9 million – didn’t have a checking or savings account with a banking concern or credit wedlock in 2021, a tape low, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’due south most recent survey of unbanked and underbanked households.

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

“Prophylactic and affordable depository financial institution accounts provide a mode to bring more Americans into the banking system and volition go on to play an of import function in advancing economic inclusion for all Americans,” FDIC acting chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said in a argument.

A lack of cyberbanking options delayed some households from getting federal payments aimed at helping the country weather the economic fallout from the COVID-19 wellness crisis.

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The FDIC initiated an educational campaign to go more than Americans to open an account to enable the directly deposit of those funds. And banks such equally Capital One and Marry Financial ended  overdraft and other fees that have been a key barrier to some Americans accessing the cyberbanking system.

What does it mean to exist unbanked?

A household is accounted unbanked when no ane in the home has an account with a bank or credit marriage. That share of households has dropped by well-nigh half since 2009. And since 2011, when 8% of U.South. households were unbanked, the highest since the outset of the survey, and the record depression reached in 2021, roughly 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, only also use financial alternatives like cheque cashing services are considered underbanked. The underbanked represented fourteen% of U.S. households, or 18.seven 1000000, last year.

Why are people unbanked or underbanked?

Many of those who are unbanked say they tin’t beget to take 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 residual 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 exist unbanked?

The numbers of the unbanked were greater amongst households that included those who were working age and disabled, lower income, included a unmarried female parent, or were Black or Hispanic. Amid white households for instance, ii% didn’t take a banking company account last twelvemonth as compared to 11% and 9% of their Black and Hispanic counterparts.

Meanwhile, nearly 15% of households with a working age fellow member who had a disability were unbanked compared to nearly 4% of other households. And  virtually sixteen% of households with a single female parent were unbanked every bit compared to well-nigh 2% of married couples who lacked an business relationship.

 “These gaps adjure there’s all the same a lot of opportunity to aggrandize participation across the population in the cyberbanking organization,” Keith Ernst, Associate Manager of Consumer Enquiry and Examination Analytics at the FDIC, said during a media call about the written report.

Will the number of unbanked ascent if the U.South. has a recession?

Perhaps.

“During the last recession unbanked rates did indeed go upwards,” Karyen Chu, chief of the Cyberbanking Research Section at the Centre for Financial Research, said during the call.

Additionally, terminal year, homes where the caput of household was out of work were near five times more probable to not have a bank account as compared to those where the household caput was employed.

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“To the extent that income goes downward … that has generally been associated with increases in unbanked rates,’’ Chu said.

Follow Charisse Jones on Twitter @charissejones