The Business of Bank Account Fees

How Public Alternatives Can Ensure Equitable Participation

Emily Divito

Roosevelt Institute | JUNE 2024

Bank fees—including overdraft and insufficient fund (NSF) fees, both of which target low-income customers—are a multibillion dollar business for banks and other financial institutions. We need a policy mechanism—at the national and/or state-level—that affirmatively guarantees access to the no-cost, basic banking products that every American deserves.

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The Case for CalAccount

A Statewide Solution for Equitable Financial Well-Being

Giacomo Bagarella and Garrett Rapsilber

HR&A Advisors | MAY 2024

HR&A analyzed the impact of CalAccount on consumers, the economy, and state finances; and assessed CalAccount’s feasibility based on California’s existing successful programs .

Lack of banking access hurts Californians, and the impact is disproportionately felt by low-income, Black, Latino/a, and rural households.
Implementing CalAccount would bring money into the California economy and could save the State money.
CalAccount is a feasible program, given the State’s experience operating financial services programs in partnership with private firms.

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CalAccount: Building on California’s Financial Services Track Record

Nari Rhee, Ph.D.

UC Berkeley Labor Center | May 2024

Three existing programs demonstrate the feasibility of implementing CalAccount and highlight the strengths that can come from a publicly-sponsored, privately-administered financial product.

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Banking for the People

This report presents findings from a new and original field survey of California bank branches in order to underscore the shortcomings of the current banking industry.

The survey focused on access barriers to in-person banking, and in particular found:

Race and language disparities in access to information and equal treatment while at bank branches;
A prevalence of overdraft-fee-based accounts and a reticence on the part of bank staff to disclose cheaper alternatives when those options exist; and
A near-total lack of no-fee, no-minim