Demographics

The applicant pool for the Core Underbanked Innovation Challenge is filled with promising ideas. Plenty of forward-thinking companies are seizing the opportunities in this area.

Banks are so busy tweaking products to shore up revenues that they're missing the most obvious revenue source — expanding offerings to the 43 million underbanked consumers.

A deal between short-term loan provider BillFloat and bill-pay provider Online Resources could boost the number of BillFloat's customers exponentially.

The emerging global markets that lack broad access to financial services likely will represent the greatest potential for mobile payments initiatives.

To earn the business of underserved groups, card companies are using high-profile personalities and organizations whose bonds with their ethnic groups are strong.

The fear is that not everyone will be able to afford a $10 or $15 a month checking account. Prepaid accounts offer banks consumers and banks alike a favorable alternative to checking.

Just as prepaid cards helped sell banklike services to the underbanked, an investment manager is planning to use similar cards to sell its products to the underinvested.

As the payday lending business contracts under heavy regulation, the key to surviving is a good hook. That's especially true online, where consumers in increasing numbers are going in search of small-dollar, short-term loans.

To make its clients more viable prospects for lenders, Maxamum — for a $25 to $75 fee — reports their payment activity on recurring bills to MicroBilt's alternative credit bureau, PRBC.

Prepaid card companies are pushing much harder to win the business of the underbanked by introducing products with lower fees.

Think Finance wanted to give underbanked consumers access to credit when they needed it, while helping them avoid a bad cycle of debt. To accomplish this, the online payday lender developed the Elastic card, a prepaid debit card with a line of credit of up to $500, that rewards consumers with lower fees for exhibiting good behavior, like making payments on time.

Those who buy prepaid cards online tend not to view them as disposable. Green Dot said it is expanding its online services to attract more of those long-term customers.

Banks shouldn't fight transactions, they should make them their friend. This way, banks have an opportunity to make money every time customers actually choose to do something.

Small-dollar credit must be high-quality, marketed transparently, affordable and structured to support repayment, with amortization periods that extend beyond a single pay period.

Tilono Corp., Kwedit's inventor, has rebranded both the company and Kwedit Direct as PayNearMe, and has retargeted the service to focus less on e-commerce and more on in-person payments.

Executives say rewards for spending could encourage people to reuse a product that many people view as disposable.

It is important to consider whether the types and levels of fees being assessed are fair, but reviewing fee schedules in the absence of usage data paints a one-dimensional picture.

A new venture capital firm focused on funding technology companies catering to the growing underbanked population has made its first investment, in GoalSpring Financial Inc., a San Francisco startup marketing an online debt management program.

The Treasury Department announced Thursday that it will launch a pilot program to let consumers have their income tax refund deposited into a low-cost bank account.

Selling prepaid cards might become less appealing to retailers if a recent proposal aimed at curbing money laundering takes effect.