On November 12, the FDIC
released its biennial
survey of unbanked and underbanked households revealing that the unbanked rate in the U.S. fell to a historic low of 4.2 percent in 2023. This rate decreased from 4.5 percent in 2021 and marked a significant drop from a high of 8.2 percent in 2011. First conducted in 2009, the survey noted about 5.6 million households were unbanked in 2023.
The survey also highlighted that households consisting of minority groups continued to have higher unbanked rates compared to their counterparts. For the first time, the 2023 survey included questions about the use of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services, revealing that 3.9 percent of households used BNPL in the past 12 months.
