“Financial Inclusion” has been a long-standing goal in development policy circles, borne at least in part out of the microfinance revolution. Belatedly, wealthier countries like the United States have caught on to the need to pay attention to whether households are included in the formal financial system. But a shared and precise definition of what it means to be included, or excluded, remains difficult to come by.
Read MoreWhat's New
- November 2017 (1)
- June 2017 (1)
- April 2016 (1)
- October 2015 (1)
- September 2015 (3)
- August 2015 (4)
- July 2015 (1)
- June 2015 (3)
- April 2015 (2)
- March 2015 (3)
- February 2015 (2)
- January 2015 (3)
- December 2014 (5)
- November 2014 (1)
- October 2014 (7)
- September 2014 (2)
- July 2014 (2)
- June 2014 (1)
- April 2014 (3)
- March 2014 (1)
- February 2014 (2)
- January 2014 (1)
- November 2013 (1)
- October 2013 (1)
- January 2013 (1)
- July 2012 (1)
- May 2011 (1)
- California (1)
- New York (1)
- Retirement (1)
- Savings (1)
- bills (1)
- budget (1)
- credit score (1)
- earned income tax credit (1)
- emergency savings (1)
- government (1)
- immigration (1)
- infographic (1)
- jobs (1)
- mobile money (1)
- payments (1)
- regulation (1)
- repayment (1)
- scheduling (1)
- technology (1)
- banks (2)
- employment (2)
- family (2)
- financial literacy (2)
- overdraft (2)
- publication (2)
- taxes (2)
- video (2)
- consumer protection (3)
- credit cards (3)
- financial inclusion (3)
- household profile (3)
- income (3)
- near poor (3)
- policy (3)
- savings (3)
- savings groups (3)
- data (4)
- financial services (4)
- methodology (4)
- fees (5)
- issue brief (5)
- payday loan (5)
- unbanked (5)
- credit (6)
- poverty (6)
- underbanked (6)
- informal finance (7)
- research (7)
- income volatility (15)
Every Dollar In, Every Dollar Out
•Think back on the past year in your financial life: the money you received from work, loans or gifts, the purchases large and small, the bank deposits and withdrawals. Now imagine keeping track of every one of those transactions - regardless of your income level, it would be a mind-boggling endeavor...
Read MoreThe Price of (Dis)Trust
•No consumer likes overdraft fees. Overdraft fees are often unexpected, expensive, and in some cases undeserved. What’s more, they can wreak financial havoc on households living on a low-income.
But the larger issue is not the fees themselves. It’s the lack of transparency surrounding them and the widespread consumer distrust that results...
Read MoreOverdraft as a Product, not a Penalty?
•The Taylors overdraft their checking account every two weeks, on purpose.
As described in a recent issue brief published by the U.S. Financial Diaries, the Taylor family’s income level varies significantly from month to month. Sometimes it’s not enough to cover all of their expenses. So, they opened an account at a bank with a simple overdraft fee structure: One $35 charge per overdraft, no daily fees, and an allowance of up to $500 at a time. Since the Taylors typically make only one large cash withdrawal per paycheck – the entire amount of pay – this bank would charge them at most one $35 overdraft fee each cycle, if they happen to need more cash than the amount of that week’s direct deposit...
Read More