In New York, just over 11 percent of residents do not have a bank account, equivalent to about 354,000 households.
In the United States, an estimated 66 million adults do not have a bank account.
There is one issue that has been little discussed around economic support that affects you directly: bank fees charged for cashing a $1,400 stimulus check.
According to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation survey of household use of banking and financial services in 2019, 66 million U.S. adults, or one in five, do not have a bank account.
Being poor is expensive
If you have a family of four and don’t have a bank account you will lose $127 in expenses just by receiving your stimulus check and trying to cash it. In New York alone, it is estimated that just over 11 percent of residents do not have a bank account, or about 354,000 households.
The research also notes that an additional 690,000 households have a bank account, yet use check cashing and other high-fee services such as prepaid cards.
Check cashing businesses can charge up to nearly 2.3%. Experts say that’s a real burden for low-income people who are less likely to have a bank account and who are known as the “unbanked” population.
Research from the Brookings Institution estimates that 3 million paper checks from the first stimulus support that were delivered last year went through check cashers who collected a total of $66 million in fees. In addition, paper checks often arrive later than direct deposits, according to a report published by the Urban Institute.
People who tend not to have a bank account are mostly African American and live in low-income neighborhoods in cities. They also include undocumented immigrants who have no fixed place of residence.