- Efforts to get Americans who are unbanked to open accounts are accelerating.
- Many without bank accounts experienced delays in receiving stimulus checks.
- The unbanked often took financial hits when they cashed stimulus checks.
When Renee Whittick opened a checking account last year, the smallest financial tasks became easier.
“Before I had a bank account …I wasn’t even able to order my own Uber or Lyft,’’ says Whittick, 31.
She was encouraged to open an account by coaches with Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners, a New York City-based non-profit that helps with saving and other aspects of personal finance. Now, she says, she is able “to do something simple like that, or pay for things online.’’