More than one-quarter of Americans don’t have adequate access to basic banking tools, such as checking accounts, credit cards, or loans for instance. Mostly all of these people belong to communities with low incomes, with less than a college degree, and minorities.

Depending on alternative products such as payday or auto loans to make ends meet, increase their risk of marginalization. 

The lack of banking access, especially in developing nations, has long been an obsession for startups and non-profit organizations looking for innovative solutions, like mobile payments and digital-wallet transfers.

In the US, President Obama made financial inclusion one of his stated priorities for the Treasury Department. Spearheading that effort has been Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who says that the U.S. faces some unique challenges when it comes to making financial services universally available.
As reported in The Atlantic