The Association of Alternative Financial Services Usage and Financial Access: Evidence from the National Financial Capability Study

Financial Socialization: A Decade in Review

“…While Scott's findings led him to advocate for better financial education programs for high school students, he concluded that education was likely not enough and that there was a need for stricter regulations for credit card companies regarding issuance of credit cards and credit limits for minors. Birkenmaier and Fu's (2016) research with unbanked individuals and their use of alternative financial services (AFS) led them to call for regulations that make AFS products safe and affordable and for both policymakers and formal financial institutions to address and alleviate the barriers that prevent unbanked individuals from being able to open or maintain traditional bank accounts. Elliott et al (2010) made similar recommendations about increasing access to banking services, but focused specifically on savings accounts for minors.…”

“…Several articles we reviewed emphasized the need for policymakers, institutions, and employers to increase access to and the quality of financial education programs. Some of the more specific suggestions for such financial education programs dealt with catering financial education towards specific financially vulnerable populations such as IPV survivors (Postmus et al 2013 ), unbanked individuals (Birkenmaier and Fu 2016 ), Millennials (Kim et al 2019 ), and adults without a college degree (Henager and Cude 2019 ). Fostering financial confidence among financially vulnerable populations appeared to be one of the most salient and prevalent suggestions across the articles we reviewed (Babiarz and Robb 2014 ; Henager and Cude 2019 ; Postmus et al 2013 ).…”

Loan Type and Debt Delinquency among Millennial and Non‐Millennial Households

“…A recent study has indicated that Millennials had low levels of financial literacy and displayed problematic financial behaviors (e.g., carrying a credit card balance, paying only the minimum, being charged late and over-the-limit fees, and taking out a cash advance; Birkenmaier & Fu, 2016). Given their younger age and lower household income, they could be struggling more to pay their bills than older generations.…”

Landscapes of financial exclusion: Alternative financial service providers and the dual financial service delivery system

“…The authors find that higher densities of AFSPs in zip codes are associated with more chronic use of these services among the lowest income individuals, as well as an increased probability that modest and highest income individuals have used these services. Analyzing a nationally representative sample of unbanked and underbanked individuals, Birkenmaier and Fu () examine the relationship between financial access and AFSP usage using OLS regression. The authors find that financial knowledge, age, gender, marital status, education, household income, and homeownership are all factors associated with AFSP usage.…”