The U.S. Financial Diaries (USFD) is a research study collecting detailed financial data from more than 200 low- and moderate-income households over the course of a year.

When asked whether “financial stability” or “moving up the income ladder” is more important, 77% of the participants in the U.S. Financial Diaries (USFD) research study chose “financial stability.”

The United States financially underserved market generated $89 billion in fees and interest in 2012, representing growth of 8% from $82 billion in 2011.

As developing technology and new regulations continue to spark competition and transform the marketplace, deep consumer knowledge remains the key to success for businesses across the sector.

This report examines the significant volume of recent investment activity in the FinTech market for financially underserved consumers. This consumer finance segment is a dynamic and growing space.

In 2009, Peter Alvarez of Redstone Federal Credit Union attended his first Underbanked Financial Services Forum, an annual conference held by the Financial Health Network and SourceMedia, to learn more about the underserved market.

For eight years, the Financial Health Network has championed innovative strategies for meeting the needs of underbanked consumers

From the U.S. Financial Diaries: Learn how and why short-term savings matter, especially for people in the United States who are earning unsteady incomes and facing unforeseen financial challenges.

Financial lives have changed. Financial advice, policies and products should too. See the infographic by the U.S. Financial Diaries.

U.S. Financial Diaries Case study: Lauren Walker, 29, is a single mother living with her four-year-old son Riley in a rented townhome in a small town in eastern Mississippi.

U.S. Financial Diaries: The Rodriguez family is a multigenerational household living in a small town near San Jose, California. Maria Rodriguez, 60 years old, lives with her husband Dean, 75; her mother, Regina, 83; and her two sons, Martin, 36, and Daniel, 34.

U.S. Financial Diaries: Rita Douglas, 62, lives in a two-bedroom apartment in a marginal, sometimes dangerous neighborhood near Cincinnati, OH.

U.S. Financial Diaries: Sarah and Sam Johnson are a hardworking Ohio couple struggling to make ends meet despite the fact that they both work in stable, full-time jobs, and several part-time ones.

U.S. Financial Diaries: Ahmed and Shaila Hossain are immigrants from Bangladesh who moved in 2010 to Queens, NY, where there is a large Bangladeshi community.

U.S. Financial Diaries: Mike Smith, a single man in his mid-50s, lives in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in Kentucky, in a small town near the Ohio River.

U.S. Financial Diaries: Tim and Clara Adrian are in their early 30’s and live in Mississippi in a four-bedroom house that they own.

Since 1955, H&R Block has been known as the go-to company for income tax advice and tax return preparation.

The emerging industry of technology startups providing financial services, known as FinTech, has typically targeted a relatively affluent customer base.

Electronic payments are growing by leaps and bounds,overtaking paper as preferred payment mechanisms.

In this case study, the Center for Financial Services Innovation looks at the steps Regions took to create and implement products and services for the underserved, and why it is important to the bank to serve this customer segment well.

Core Innovation Capital has set out to serve more than 10 million people, and save them at least $50 a month, for a total annual savings of $6 billion, in addition to helping them become more upwardly mobile.

Nexxo Financial Corporation joined forces with Centris Federal Credit Union and Carver Federal Savings Bank to supply transaction kiosks to provide consumers more convenient access to the financial services they need.

Banks and credit unions can and should be doing much more to support consumer credit building – and, importantly, they can do so in ways that align their own success with the success of their customers.

The products and services that cater to the needs of financially underserved consumers are big business.

More than 600 participants gathered at the Sixth Annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum to discuss the future of the marketplace for the underbanked.

Although underbanked consumers in the U.S. often have insufficient access to financial services, their access to mobile phones is fairly widespread.

In 2010, the Financial Health Network launched its largest effort yet to catalog all existing financial products and services aimed at the underbanked population: the Underbanked Industry Scan.

Young adults entering the work force and managing wages for the first time today face a financial services marketplace that is markedly more complex than the one their parents first encountered as young adults.

Almost one-third of the 30 million U.S. households who are unbanked or underbanked borrow to pay for small-dollar, short-term needs.

Mainstream financial institutions have struggled to meet the needs of low-income families living paycheck to paycheck.

There are few affordable short-term, small-dollar credit products in the marketplace that meet borrowers’ immediate needs and that help put them on a path toward financial prosperity.

An estimated 30 to 40 million American households are financially underserved. They lack access to the financial products and services that enable them to save, build assets, and achieve financial prosperity.

Low-wage immigrants are a particularly hard-to-reach segment of the underbanked population.

This paper outlines some of the major themes which emerged during Fourth Annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum, in 2009, inlcuding an exploration of the heterogeneity of underbanked market segments

In the face of today’s economic crisis, Americans have started saving again. And while saving could be a short-lived response to the crisis, the current impetus to save has created an opportunity for financial services organizations to lead the way in encouraging saving, especially those institutions targeting financially underserved consumers.

The Financial Health Network has conducted an investigation into the amounts that prepaid cardholders spend each month to conduct essential financial transactions, and compared that to the amounts that they would spend if they remained underbanked or used checking accounts for the majority of their transactions instead.

This the Financial Health Network inBrief analyses the financial attitudes and behaviors of the 20.6 million Latino underbanked consumers in the U.S.

Millions of lower-income consumers lack access to high-quality financial products and services that simultaneously meet their short-term needs and prepare them for long-term financial success.

This the Financial Health Network inBrief provides some insights on underbanked consumers’ preferences and usage regarding financial service providers. The information is drawn from the 2008 the Financial Health Network Underbanked Consumer Stud.

Gain insights from this third annual event, including the importance of building relationships, understanding the underbanked market, and increasing our conversations around saving.

This resource identifies market size data and preferences among eight unique segments of the underbanked market, including "The Strivers," "Middle of the Road," and "Almost There."

Discover how three nonprofit organizations are marketing and distributing prepaid debit cards to provide their community members with economical and convenient financial services.

At this second annual event, attendees learned how to reach out to unbanked and underbanked consumers using various methods, including prepaid cards, remittances, credit scoring, and small-dollar loans.

This research paper explores the mismatch between the consumer needs of low-wage immigrant unbanked and underbanked populations and existing financial products and vendor strategies.

This event underscored the business opportunities inherent in serving the underbanked market and identified opportunities to help move consumers along a pathway to savings.

Discover likely affinities among underbanked consumers and explore how financial products could be marketed to these consumers through community-based nonprofits and nonprofits offering advocacy and social services.

In this report, learn insights into the current credit reporting system, why it doesn’t work for everyone, and efforts underway to improve it with the addition of new data sources.

This report addresses the extent to which traditional affinity marketing models apply to underbanked segments while exploring the nonprofit community's role in marketing and distributing financial services.

Discover the potential of HR outsourcers, payroll companies, worksite marketing firms, and other intermediaries to provide distribution and marketing opportunities for financial services.

This paper explores opportunities for using the moment of tax preparation to bridge the gap between the financial needs of underbanked consumers and services that can meet those needs.