Credit Issues The Main Barrier For Unbanked Consumers - A recent report looking into how financial institutions, banking regulators, and consumer advocates perceive unbanked and financially underserved consumers was released.

The report, which is based on a survey conducted from November through December 2008, shows that the perception that consumers are unbanked or financially underserved mainly because of cultural and attitudinal reasons is false. The survey in fact finds that the reasons for which most consumers are unbanked is extremely practical and has to do with credit scores, pricing issues, and personal income. Thus, 53 percent of unbanked consumers interviewed stated they are slowed financially by credit issues, 28 percent say pricing issues with checking accounts, 12 percent personal income issues, and 7 percent report service issues constraints.

As a result of this report, financial institutions are unlikely to attract customers from this particular market segment using large scale advertising, but rather using different products targeted at specific consumer needs.