Making it less expensive to be poor.
Every year, the average family of four making an annual income of $25,000 spends $2,400 on their financial transactions. In the United States, the average family spends $2,000 on its most expensive emergency—nearly half a month’s income — and 60% of families experience something like this annually (unexpected illness, car repairs, or other emergency). There are 223,000 underbanked or unbanked households in the state of Minnesota.
Prepare + Prosper, a Minnesota non-profit that fosters financial health and wealth for low-income families, seeks to transform that by helping families build their credit score, understand how to manage money, and build access to high-value banking products including a checking account, credit building tools, and VISA cards. Through a new initiative called fair: Financial Access in Reach, Prepare + Prosper will deliver products to the unbanked and underbanked. The products will have low barriers to entry, no minimum balance requirements, low and transparent pricing, easy access, and will be FDIC insured. The products seek to fundamentally change the access points and resources for low-income people.