Building Financial Stability and an Equitable Recovery for All Californians

 

In 2021, following a dynamic campaign, led by the CalAccount Community Coalition, the legislature passed Assembly Bill 1177 (Santiago) creating the Blue Ribbon CalAccount Commission. Over the past four years, the Commission convened and  explored how CalAccount, a program administered by the State Treasurer’s Office to provide a zero-fee, zero-penalty debit account, could be best implemented.


This year, Assemblymember Robert Garcia is taking  our fight for equitable access to financial services to the next step. Asm. Garcia has introduced Assembly Bill 1365,  which would establish the CalAccount program and help ensure that Californians will have a free  debit account banking option with no minimum balance requirements and no overdraft fees, as well as paycheck and government payment direct deposit.

 
 

Join the CalAccount Community Coalition

CalAccount provides a stable, accessible financial platform for unbanked and underbanked Californians.

 

CalAccount creates a new retail banking option provided by the state that would offer every Californian

  • a zero-fee, zero-penalty debit account and debit card

  • direct deposit from employers and public benefits

  • automatic bill pay to registered payees

  • recurring payments and donations to account holders’ organizations or charities of choice

  • an infrastructure to support account holders in building credit

  • tools for financial literacy

View Reports

Learn more about the unbanked and underbanked in California, as well as other issues related to bridging the racial financial access gap.

Who are the unbanked and underbanked in our state?

 

1 in 5

California households

More than

60%

of unbanked households make less than $30,000 annually

More than

30%

of Black California Households

More than

40%

of disabled California Households

More than

30%

of Latino California Households

“I would love to have a bank account because I could be saving the money I’m spending to cash my paycheck, but the fees to keep a bank account are too high and I don’t always have enough money to meet the balance requirements. Right now, I spend about $300 a year just to cash my checks, and that’s money I could be using for clothes for my daughters and for food. A little goes a long way.”

— Maria del Carmen Bentancourt, Fast Food Worker, on why she supports AB 1177

Why CalAccount?

 

Protects users from exorbitant fees of non-bank check casher and pre-paid debit cards by placing critical checks on the ruinous cycle of debt and eviction

Provides a secure means of saving and increases opportunities for account holders to build credit

Addresses the inequities in financial services acutely felt by communities that have been hardest hit by pandemic and recession: discrimination, predatory lending, evictions, and vicious spirals of debt

Join us to close the racial wealth and financial services gap by making CalAccount a reality.