Banking deserts are areas with inadequate banking services. They are usually in rural space due to being less populated, thus there are less profit opportunities for large institutions. [1]
Especially vulnerable to the issues associated with banking deserts are low-income residents and the elderly. If basic financial services are unavailable, residents become "vulnerable to predatory lenders and pricey check cashers". [2] In the US, banking deserts are more often found in communities of color than they are elsewhere. [3]
Banking deserts had been mentioned as early as the 1870s, by Tullio Martello and Augusto Montanari in their book, Stato attuale del credito in Italia e notizie sulle istituzioni di credito straniere, regarding Italian unification. [4] The term had also been used to describe the situation in Newfoundland and Labrador during the period of 1993 to 2003, when the Canadian provinces had lost 23% of its bank branches. [5]
Bank deserts have been growing in the United States since the 1990s. Due to federal deregulation, mainstream banking companies were allowed to focus the most on more populated and profitable areas and close banks that didn't produce much revenue, which were usually those in low-income communities and places consisting of people of color. This made way for higher-priced alternative financial services, such as payday lenders and check-cashing stores, to occupy these areas. [6] The amount of banking branches in the United States peaked at 99,163 during the Great Recession and fell to 88,070 by 2018; major cities that have had banks close the most in non-white areas include Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit and Las Vegas. [7]
It's much harder for citizens to build wealth, credit, and savings with only expensive alternative services and without a physical bank nearby. [6] In addition, children who grow up in banking deserts are less likely to be exposed to parents and other adults using local banks for finances, increasing their chances of financial illiteracy as they grow older. [1] A 2020 Making Sen$e piece that studied banking deserts in Native American reservations found they had very poor credit scores as a result of financial illiteracy and a lack of trust in banking. [1]
Redlining is a discriminatory practice in which financial services are withheld from neighborhoods that have significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities. Redlining has been most prominent in the United States, and has mostly been directed against African-Americans. The most common examples involve denial of credit and insurance, denial of healthcare, and the development of food deserts in minority neighborhoods.
Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money borrowed or otherwise withheld from another party, the creditor. Debt may be owed by sovereign state or country, local government, company, or an individual. Commercial debt is generally subject to contractual terms regarding the amount and timing of repayments of principal and interest. Loans, bonds, notes, and mortgages are all types of debt. In financial accounting, debt is a type of financial transaction, as distinct from equity.
Microfinance is a of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings and checking accounts; microinsurance; and payment systems, among other services. Microfinance services are designed to reach excluded customers, usually poorer population segments, possibly socially marginalized, or geographically more isolated, and to help them become self-sufficient. ID Ghana is an example of a microfinance institution.
A transaction account, also called a checking account, chequing account, current account, demand deposit account, or share account at credit unions, is a deposit account or bank account held at a bank or other financial institution. It is available to the account owner "on demand" and is available for frequent and immediate access by the account owner or to others as the account owner may direct. Access may be in a variety of ways, such as cash withdrawals, use of debit cards, cheques and electronic transfer. In economic terms, the funds held in a transaction account are regarded as liquid funds. In accounting terms, they are considered as cash.
A payday loan is a short-term unsecured loan, often characterized by high interest rates. These loans are typically designed to cover immediate financial needs and are intended to be repaid on the borrower's next payday.
Postal savings systems provide depositors who do not have access to banks a safe and convenient method to save money. Many nations have operated banking systems involving post offices to promote saving money among the poor.
The Community Reinvestment Act is a United States federal law designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to help meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Congress passed the Act in 1977 to reduce discriminatory credit practices against low-income neighborhoods, a practice known as redlining.
Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company founded on July 21, 1994 and specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts, headquartered in Tysons, Virginia with operations primarily in the United States. It is the 12th largest bank in the United States by total assets as of December 31, 2022, the third largest issuer of Visa and Mastercard credit cards, and one of the largest car finance companies in the United States.
Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world.
Financial inclusion is the availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services. It refers to processes by which individuals and businesses can access appropriate, affordable, and timely financial products and services - which include banking, loan, equity, and insurance products. It provides paths to enhance inclusiveness in economic growth by enabling the unbanked population to access the means for savings, investment, and insurance towards improving household income and reducing income inequality
A banking agent is a retail or postal outlet contracted by a financial institution or a mobile network operator to process clients’ transactions. Rather than a branch teller, it is the owner or an employee of the retail outlet who conducts the transaction and lets clients deposit, withdraw, transfer funds, pay their bills, inquire about an account balance, or receive government benefits or a direct deposit from their employer. Banking agents can be pharmacies, supermarkets, convenience stores, lottery outlets, post offices, and more.
Bank regulation in the United States is highly fragmented compared with other G10 countries, where most countries have only one bank regulator. In the U.S., banking is regulated at both the federal and state level. Depending on the type of charter a banking organization has and on its organizational structure, it may be subject to numerous federal and state banking regulations. Apart from the bank regulatory agencies the U.S. maintains separate securities, commodities, and insurance regulatory agencies at the federal and state level, unlike Japan and the United Kingdom. Bank examiners are generally employed to supervise banks and to ensure compliance with regulations.
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
The New York State Banking Department was created by the New York Legislature on April 15, 1851, with a chief officer to be known as the Superintendent. The New York State Banking Department was the oldest bank regulatory agency in the United States.
The unbanked are adults who do not have their own bank accounts. Along with the underbanked, they may rely on alternative financial services for their financial needs, where these are available.
An alternative financial service (AFS) is a financial service provided outside traditional banking institutions, on which many low-income individuals depend. In developing countries, these services often take the form of microfinance. In developed countries, the services may be similar to those provided by banks and include payday loans, rent-to-own agreements, pawnshops, refund anticipation loans, some subprime mortgage loans and car title loans, and non-bank check cashing, money orders, and money transfers. It also includes traditional moneylending by door-to-door collection. In New York City, these are called check-cashing stores, and they are legally exempted from the 25 percent criminal usury cap.
A cost of poverty, also known as a ghetto tax, a poverty premium, a cost of being poor, or the poor pay more, is the phenomenon of people with lower incomes, particularly those living in low-income areas, incurring higher expenses, paying more not only in terms of money, but also in time, health, and opportunity costs. "Costs of poverty" can also refer to the costs to the broader society in which poverty exists.
A payday loan is a small, short-term unsecured loan, "regardless of whether repayment of loans is linked to a borrower's payday." The loans are also sometimes referred to as "cash advances," though that term can also refer to cash provided against a prearranged line of credit such as a credit card. Payday advance loans rely on the consumer having previous payroll and employment records. Legislation regarding payday loans varies widely between different countries and, within the United States, between different states.
A public bank is a bank, a financial institution, in which a state, municipality, or public actors are the owners. It is an enterprise under government control. Prominent among current public banking models are the Bank of North Dakota, the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe in Germany, and many nations’ postal bank systems.
The Latino Community Credit Union (LCCU) is located in Durham, North Carolina. The LCCU was established in 2000 in Downtown Durham, North Carolina. It became the first Latino credit union in North Carolina and is currently the only Latino Credit Union in the state. Today, it has over 90,000 members and 15 locations across North Carolina.