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

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

Underbanked consumers need minute-to-minute information about their finances, and mobile financial services (MFS) are well suited to deliver it.

Millions of underbanked Americans have found prepaid cards an effective way to meet their basic financial services needs.

The financial crisis and economic downturn have reshaped the financial services landscape.

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.

The Financial Health Network led a consumer research study on secured card products, conducted with MasterCard and Blue Flame Consulting.

Read findings from the Center for Financial Services Innovation's (CFSI) study into consumer needs, behaviors, and perceptions around secured credit card products.

The current economy has spawned renewed examination of the market potential for secured credit cards.

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.

A unique model for regional, employer-based collaboration to increase the usage of basic financial services has emerged recently in Minnesota, with relevant lessons for companies, communities, and advocates nationwide.

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.

Learn how customers, borrowers, and firms feel about the perceived and actual costs and benefits of full-file credit reporting by nonfinancial service providers, such as utilities.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This paper discusses the implications of stored value cards for unbanked and underbanked consumers, exploring positive effects such as the potential to build assets and improve credit records.

Learn key findings about retail locations in which consumers can access financial services, including the impact of ATMs, point of sale and kiosk technology, and reloadable stored value cards.