Unbanked

Catherine New

CFPB Looks To Make Rules For Prepaid Cards

HuffingtonPost.com | Catherine New | Posted 05.23.2012

The government's top consumer sheriff wants to rein in the Wild West of prepaid cards, even as some of the biggest players in the financial industry m...

No Bank Account? No Problem

AP | ANNE D'INNOCENZIO | Posted 04.26.2012

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart shoppers now will be able to pay cash for online purchases. The world's largest retailer on Thursday said it will allow sho...

Bank Prepaid Cards: Silo or Suite?

Dory Rand | Posted 04.26.2012

Dory Rand

Imagine Gail, a 30-year-old mother of two school-age children. Gail is on ChexSystems and has a low credit score as the result of actions taken by an ...

Most Of The World's Poor Do Not Have A Bank Account

The Huffington Post | Bonnie Kavoussi | Posted 04.19.2012

More than 2.5 billion people -- or half of all adults around the world -- are "unbanked," meaning they don't have a bank account, according to data re...

Janell Ross

In South Carolina Some Tax Refunds Will Be Shared With A Big Bank

HuffingtonPost.com | Janell Ross | Posted 02.28.2012

This year South Carolina income tax refunds will arrive on prepaid debit cards unless taxpayers specifically opt for a check or direct deposit. The...

Catherine New

Fee-Dependent Prepaid Card Maker Moves Into Banking

HuffingtonPost.com | Catherine New | Posted 11.29.2011

In the latest signal that the economic crisis has fundamentally changed the way Americans handle their money, the largest provider of prepaid debit ca...

The 10 States Where Bank Accounts Are The Least Popular

Posted 12.28.2011

As debate rages over the role of banks in society today, a sizable number of Americans continue to have no bank account at all. Close to one-third...

Reuters Analysis: Boost In Big Bank Fees Could Push Consumers To Turn To Alternative Lenders

Posted 12.17.2011

Alternative finance firms, from credit unions to online and pawn lenders, are gaining traction as banks turn off the tap for easy cash and start c...

Eva Peron Wins: The Pretension of a 'Savings Lottery'

Steve Clemons | Posted 05.25.2011

Steve Clemons

Suggesting that America's savings problem be solved by establishing an Eva Peron-style lottery incentivizing those with little to save doesn't understand the dynamics at play in the American economy today.

Can Mobile Money End This War?

Alexia Parks | Posted 05.25.2011

Alexia Parks

Over the past 60 years the U.S. has been involved in more than 10 wars and invasions. These have included World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, the B...

Does Everything Require Stimulus?

Jerry R. Welch | Posted 05.25.2011

Jerry R. Welch

Rather than treat the unbanked and underbanked as second class citizens, the prepaid card industry is listening to their needs.

How about financial services that help, not exploit, the broke?

Patrice Peyret | Posted 05.25.2011

Patrice Peyret

I am midway through reading Gary Rivlin's new book, Broke, USA. As CNN Money contributor Dan Okrent puts it in his review, Rivlin's book is about the ...

End of Free Checking a Financial Squeeze: How Employers Can Help

Clare J. Morgan | Posted 05.25.2011

Clare J. Morgan

The free checking accounts many Americans enjoy will soon be a thing of the past as banks scramble to find new ways to recoup overdraft charges and other fees they're no longer allowed to impose.

Gates Foundation's Ignacio Mas On eFinance in the Developing World

Jim Luce | Posted 05.25.2011

Jim Luce

Ignacio Mas, Deputy Director of the Financial Services for the Poor Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, took time off from his hectic schedule at the recent GSM Alliance Congress in Madrid to speak to me over coffee.

Introduction to mFinance: Cell Phone Banking

Jim Luce | Posted 05.25.2011

Jim Luce

Growing up in Ohio as a young teen, I would take my savings account passbook to the bank and deposit my earnings from snow shoveling or grass mowing. ...

Film as a Message to the World: Yunus and Sundance 2010!

Vivian Norris | Posted 05.25.2011

Vivian Norris

I want to congratulate filmmaker, Gayle Ferraro, whom I met when she first began this journey of making To Catch a Dollar, which premiered Saturday night at Sundance with Dr. Muhammad Yunus present.

"Unbanked" Citizens Increasingly Targeted By Big Companies And Payday Lenders

washingtonpost.com | Ylan Q. Mui | Posted 05.25.2011

For years, the country's makeshift network of payday lenders and check cashers has operated with little competition or federal regulation. ...

Should Every Baby Have a Bank Account?

Rohit Chopra | Posted 05.25.2011

Rohit Chopra

Those without bank accounts can't get personalized checks. They also can't pass a credit check needed to rent an apartment or get a car loan. Reform is needed to help these working poor.