17 Million Bank-Less

New York State is known as the nation's financial capital, yet nearly one in 10 of its residents do not have a checking or savings account.

And while Texas is densely populated with banks, nearly a quarter of households in the Dallas-Forth Worth area have gone to a pawn shop or check cashing company recently to carry out a simple financial transaction.

Those were just a few of the findings of a new government survey released Wednesday on Americans' access to basic banking services.

Perhaps one of the biggest revelations of the study was that approximately 7.7% of all U.S. households, or 17 million Americans, were considered "unbanked," meaning they did not have any sort of a checking or savings account.

The most common reason cited, according to the study, was a lack of funds. More than a third of those considered "unbanked" said they did not have enough cash to warrant having a bank account.

In fact, nearly 20% of all U.S. households earning $30,000 or less per year did not have a bank account.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/02/news/economy/fdic_survey/index.htm