Dispelling Labels - "Underbanked" or "Valued Customer"?

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Several of us recently returned from CFSI's "Underbanked Financial Services Forum". CFSI is a respected organization that does good work to help make financial services available to those with modest incomes for whom banks are not a convenient or affordable option.

At the conference, we got to thinking about using the term "underbanked" to refer to this population. It doesn't seem to do them justice and might even put an unfavorable label on these hardworking Americans.

At FSV, we call these people our "valued customers". They are our waitresses and check-out clerks. They clean our homes and offices. They drive our buses, teach our children, tend our yards and handle our transactions at the bank. They are the underpinning of our economy, touching our families' lives many times throughout each day. They are hard workers with high aspirations for themselves and their families. Unfortunately, they live paycheck to paycheck for much of their lives or may cycle out of the traditional banking system during tough economic times such as these today.

FSV provides these individuals with paycards to receive their wages or government benefit payments and we offer other affordable and valuable financial services such as bill payment and savings accounts. These tools allow our customers to conduct financial transactions and participate in mainstream payments that they may not otherwise have readily available.

We're honored to have such a great group of customers and proud to serve them.

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