Banking discrimination can appear in access to accounts, the amount of credit approved, the cost and use of alternative products, and mortgage lending. The 2023 estimates below show substantial differences by race and ethnicity, while mortgage and enforcement figures add context from 2022–2023 and earlier periods.
Contents
- Bank account ownership
- Underbanking and nonbank services
- Credit applications by income
- Credit cards and balances
- Alternative credit products
- Mortgage lending disparities
Bank account ownership
The FDIC’s 2023 National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households reports household-level estimates for 2023. “Fully banked” households had a bank account and did not use specified nonbank financial services. “Underbanked” households had a bank account but used at least one specified nonbank service during the prior 12 months.
Among Black households, 65.6% were fully banked, 23.8% were underbanked, and 10.6% were unbanked. Hispanic households had a 68.8% fully banked rate, while 21.7% were underbanked and 9.5% were unbanked.
Asian households had the highest fully banked share among the groups reported here: 81.2%. Their underbanked share was 16.8%, and 2.0% were unbanked. American Indian or Alaska Native households had a 65.9% fully banked rate, a 21.9% underbanked rate, and a 12.2% unbanked rate.
| Household group | Fully banked | Underbanked | Unbanked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 65.6% | 23.8% | 10.6% |
| Hispanic | 68.8% | 21.7% | 9.5% |
| Asian | 81.2% | 16.8% | 2.0% |
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 65.9% | 21.9% | 12.2% |
These categories describe different relationships with financial institutions. A household can have an account and still depend on nonbank services, so account ownership alone does not capture the full level of access or financial security.
Underbanking and nonbank services
The same FDIC survey estimated that 27.0% of Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander households were underbanked in 2023. For comparison, 10.1% of White households were underbanked. The figures are household-level estimates and should not be treated as adult-level survey results.
The Federal Reserve’s Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2023 uses adults as the unit of analysis. In that survey, 14% of Black adults were unbanked, compared with 11% of Hispanic adults, 4% of White adults, and 4% of Asian adults.
The two surveys therefore show the same broad pattern of racial differences in banking access, but their measurements are not identical. The FDIC figures are household-level estimates, while the Federal Reserve figures are adult-level estimates. The difference in units and survey methods means their percentages should not be directly compared as though they measured the same population.
Credit applications by income
The Federal Reserve also reports whether credit applicants were denied or approved for less credit than they requested. This combined outcome is important: an approval does not necessarily mean the applicant received the requested amount. The results below are for adults who applied for credit in 2023, grouped by income.
For applicants with income below $50,000, 65% of Black applicants were denied or received less than requested. The corresponding shares were 59% for Hispanic applicants and 47% for White applicants. In the $50,000–$99,000 income group, the figures were 41% for Black applicants, 37% for Hispanic applicants, and 27% for White applicants.
Among applicants with income of at least $100,000, 29% of Black applicants were denied or approved for less than requested. The share was 24% for Hispanic applicants and 13% for White applicants.
| Applicant income in 2023 | White | Black | Hispanic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below $50,000 | 47% | 65% | 59% |
| $50,000–$99,000 | 27% | 41% | 37% |
| At least $100,000 | 13% | 29% | 24% |
Across all three income bands, the reported share for Black applicants was higher than the share for White applicants. The Federal Reserve measure combines two outcomes—denial and approval for less credit than requested—so it should not be interpreted as a denial rate alone. It also describes survey results, not a finding that any individual lender acted unlawfully.
Credit cards and balances
Credit card access and the need to carry a balance are separate indicators. In 2023, 86% of White adults had a credit card, compared with 70% of Black adults, 74% of Hispanic adults, and 90% of Asian adults.
Among cardholders, 72% of Black adults carried a balance at least once in the prior year. The comparable figures were 59% for Hispanic cardholders, 42% for White cardholders, and 24% for Asian cardholders. Looking at all adults rather than only cardholders, 50% of Black adults carried a credit-card balance at least once in the prior year, compared with 44% of Hispanic adults, 36% of White adults, and 21% of Asian adults.
The distinction between cardholders and all adults changes the denominator, but both measures show a higher balance-carrying share for Black adults than for White or Asian adults in the 2023 Federal Reserve survey. The survey does not, in the figures reported here, identify the causes of those differences.
Alternative credit products
Use of alternative payment and credit products was also uneven in 2023. The Federal Reserve reported that 20% of Black adults used Buy Now, Pay Later during the prior 12 months. The comparable share was 21% for Hispanic adults, 10% for White adults, and 10% for Asian adults.
Payday, pawn, auto-title, or tax-refund-anticipation loans were used by 10% of Black adults and 11% of Hispanic adults. The supplied Federal Reserve figures do not report corresponding percentages for White or Asian adults for this combined category.
These measures do not establish why people used a particular product. They do show that alternative credit and payment services formed part of the financial lives of a notable share of Black and Hispanic adults during the prior year, alongside the account ownership and credit-application differences described above.
Mortgage lending disparities
Mortgage data provide a separate view of access to credit. The FFIEC 2023 mortgage-lending release reports shares and unadjusted denial rates for a specified segment of first-lien conventional closed-end home-purchase loans.
Black borrowers received 8.1% of these loans in 2022 and 8.2% in 2023. Hispanic-White borrowers received 9.1% in 2022 and 9.9% in 2023. Asian borrowers received 7.6% in 2022 and 7.7% in 2023.
For the specified 2023 loan segment, the denial rate was 16.6% for Black applicants, 12.0% for Hispanic-White applicants, 9.0% for Asian applicants, and 5.8% for non-Hispanic White applicants.
| Group | Share of loans, 2022 | Share of loans, 2023 | 2023 denial rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 8.1% | 8.2% | 16.6% |
| Hispanic-White | 9.1% | 9.9% | 12.0% |
| Asian | 7.6% | 7.7% | 9.0% |
| Non-Hispanic White | — | — | 5.8% |
The FFIEC denial rates are descriptive, unadjusted rates for the specified loan segment. They are not, by themselves, proof of illegal discrimination. They also should not be generalized to every mortgage product, borrower profile, or geography.
Redlining enforcement and neighborhood access
Enforcement records provide examples of alleged geographic exclusion and settlement terms. The Justice Department’s Attorney General’s 2022 Annual Report to Congress on Fair Lending Enforcement states that, from 2017 through at least 2020, other banks received more than six times as many applications in majority-Black and Hispanic Los Angeles County neighborhoods as City National Bank received each year.
The report also states that during the 20 years before the 2023 City National settlement, the bank opened or acquired 11 branches, but only one was in a majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhood. The 2023 redlining consent order required at least $29.5 million for a loan subsidy fund serving majority-Black and Hispanic Los Angeles County neighborhoods.
These Justice Department figures describe allegations or settlement terms as identified in the official enforcement report. They are not interchangeable with the national survey estimates or the FFIEC descriptive denial rates. Together, the measures cover different parts of the banking system: whether households have accounts, whether applicants receive requested credit, how adults use cards and alternative products, and whether mortgage credit reaches particular communities.