These resources can help inform effective banking access efforts.

Bank On National Data Hub

The CFE Fund and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis partnered to create the  Bank On National Data (BOND) Hub, which aggregates national Bank On account activity related to account openings, usage and consistency, and online access. 

The most recent report, The Bank On National Data Hub: Findings from 2022, includes key takeaways from the 2022 data collection, including results from analyzing national Bank On account activity across three categories of metrics: Account Opening, Account Usage and Consistency, and Online Access. The report provides an interactive look at findings from 2022 data collection featuring 35 reporting financial institutions. To date, more than 17.4 million Bank On certified accounts have been opened by consumers across the county; customers have opened these accounts in 87% of US zip codes. Further, 85% of Bank On accounts opened in 2022 were opened by customers who were new to the financial institution, demonstrating that Bank On accounts are bringing new customers into financial institutions and the financial mainstream. 

Want to play with BOND Hub data? The CFE Fund recently released a new tool for exploring BOND Hub account data at the national; state; county; city; or zip code level.

FDIC Unbanked Survey

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) sponsors the biennial National Survey of Household Use of Banking and Financial Services to collect data on the number of U.S. households that are unbanked, their demographic characteristics, and their reasons for being unbanked. The survey includes a wealth of previously unavailable data on unbanked households at the national, state, and large metropolitan statistical area (MSA) levels. Users can access survey findings, download survey data, generate custom tables, and view information about other relevant FDIC studies and initiatives.

Bank On Branch Dashboard

The American Bankers Association recently released a new interactive dashboard displaying Bank On account availability across the country; users can filter Bank On branch data by availability in state and county, and see Bank On growth over time. The dashboard highlights the growth of the Bank On movement, with accounts now accessible to 94.8% of low and moderate income households.

Making the Case for Banking Access: Talking to Unbanked People about Bank Accounts

This report, Making the Case for Banking Access: Talking to Unbanked People About Bank Accounts, explores effective messages for communicating with those who are unbanked about the value of safe accounts. The CFE Fund commissioned strategic communications firm RALLY and polling research firm PSB to field a multi-city series of focus groups and surveys to uncover what types of messaging would most effectively move unbanked people to open accounts; a subset of the research focused on the financial attitudes, habits, and goals of unbanked people, as well as on Spanish-speaking unbanked people and how messages might best engage them to open accounts.

An Evaluation of Financial Empowerment Centers: Banking Status

This brief details banking outcomes in the five Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) replication cities, and is excerpted from the CFE Fund’s full report, An Evaluation of Financial Empowerment Centers: Building People’s Financial Stability As a Public Service. This brief highlights how banking status mattered for FEC clients’ success. It also details unbanked clients and what they achieved during counseling, banking outcomes for all FEC clients, and why products matter for programs seeking to improve banking access.

The CFE Fund held a 15-minute webinar on this topic; watch the webinar here, and view the presentation here.

Account Screening Consumer Reporting Agencies: A Banking Access Perspective

This CFE Fund and National Consumer Law Center report details consumer reporting agencies and the significant—and deeply flawed—role they play denying millions of people access to mainstream banking.

Summer Jobs Connect: Building Sustainable Banking and Savings Programs in Summer Youth Employment

This report highlights Summer Jobs Connect’s second year, with briefs on direct deposit and financial education; incentive strategies; and infrastructure changes for sustainability.

Summer Jobs Connect: More Than a Job

This report details lessons learned from the first year of Summer Jobs Connect, which adds financial empowerment strategies to summer youth employment programs.

Prosperity Now Scorecard

Knowing the size of the unbanked and underbanked population is helpful in understanding the needs of your local community. Learning which populations are at higher risk for being financially underserved can also help you design an effective and well-targeted financial access strategy. Users can access Prosperity Now’s (formerly CFED’s) data tool to download estimates of the number of unbanked and underbanked households at the city/town, county, metro area and state levels; access supplementary demographic data on at-risk populations; map unbanked and underbanked households down to the neighborhood level; and learn more about the financially underserved in your community.

Federal Reserve Community Credit Profiles

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York launched an interactive tool, called Community Credit, which looks at the local credit economy at the national, state and county levels. Each community is characterized based on the aggregated credit behavior of its adult residents, and then these indicators of credit behavior are used to assess the community’s ability to access credit and its credit stress level. The tool also looks at how these factors have changed since 2006.