Financial Inclusion in Banking Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. David Scott) for introducing this bill, which has been bipartisan for several Congresses.

According to data from the FDIC's survey of unbanked and underbanked households, 5.4 percent of U.S. households were unbanked in 2019. This means no one in the household had a checking or savings account. This translates, Madam Speaker, into 7.1 million American households that don't have that simple, straightforward needed access to a checking or savings account.

While this is the lowest percentage rate since the FDIC began conducting that survey back in 2009, the number of unbanked and underbanked families is still disturbing.

These statistics point to a staggering number of Americans who have limited or no access to traditional banking services. When I was in community banking before coming to Congress, there was nothing more empowering than having connection to and access to that financial system so that you can save for college, buy a home, acquire that first car that you have dreamed of, or just conduct your household's financing.

So, over the years in Congress, I have supported efforts to improve financial literacy, particularly with my friend, Dr. Foster. As a banker, I certainly worked with volunteers, helping families understand the financial system and how they could have banking access. This is a key issue that both the private sector and the public sector work on, on a regular basis.

Mr. Scott has suggested that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office of Community Affairs continue to engage in these efforts and examine how to improve this situation.

The Office of Community Affairs also partnered with the CFPB's Office of Research and the Office of Fair Lending to examine credit deserts, where we don't even have access to financial services, and better equip communities with the tools for financial education.

Additionally, the Bureau's Your Money, Your Goals program offers a variety of materials to help consumers pursue financial empowerment and resources for organizations aimed at helping financially vulnerable individuals and families.

This is a key issue and, particularly in my rural State, a bigger challenge for rural counties, as we have some counties without a single financial services office.

Despite the progress that has been made, credit invisibility remains an important issue, especially given the pandemic's impact on American consumers.

By further directing the CFPB's Office of Community Affairs to focus its work on the underserved, we are working to ensure those consumers are not overlooked.

This bill reaffirms our goal in understanding credit invisibility and identifying better solutions to deliver resources.

All Americans deserve access to basic financial tools that will help them achieve their financial independence, their pursuit of happiness. This bill takes an important step in promoting financial inclusion and providing access to all Americans.

I thank my good friend from Georgia (Mr. David Scott), who is approaching the microphone, for his work on this bill, and I thank my friend, Mr. Cleaver, for leading today. I urge my colleagues to support the Financial Inclusion in Banking Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. HILL. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Davidson), a distinguished member of the House Financial Services Committee and, as of today, the ranking member on our Fintech Task Force.

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Mr. HILL. Madam Speaker, I appreciate my friend from Ohio (Mr. Davidson). He spoke to this issue of fintech, which I think is very important and has the ability to actually open up doors for underbanked families and unbanked families at a lower cost and a more accessible way through smart technology. I think that is going to be important.

I thank, again, my friend from Georgia for his work on financial literacy. As a great Wharton graduate, he knows a lot about financial literacy, and I am proud that he shares it with all of our citizens and families across the country.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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