The Pew Charitable Trusts has started a project to develop and promote bank account standards for the underbanked.
The Washington nonprofit will devote $2.1 million and two years to the Pew Safe Banking Opportunities Project, to protect "moderate- and low-income households that are new to or have been left out of the mainstream banking system" from "overly expensive, income-stripping financial products," according to a press release issued Wednesday.
Shelley Hearne, Pew's managing director of health and human services, said in the press release that the standards will be guided by "three core principles" — clarity, consent, fairness.
The organization also cited "confusing, overly expensive bank fees often tied to basic bank accounts" that take advantage of the underbanked. Pew will enlist industry representatives, state and local governments, consumer advocates, and personal finance experts to help develop the standards, promote them in the banking industry, and inform consumers about them. Once the standards are developed, banks and credit unions that adopt them will be able to advertise their adherence by a logo.
Matt Fellowes, a former fellow at the Brookings Institution, joined Pew as the banking project's director.
Since 2004, Pew has launched four projects involving family financial security, most recently giving a two-year, $1 million grant to the Center for Responsible Lending last year.
