Convenience-Based Options to Fuel Explosive Growth in Non-traditional Financial Services for Unbanked and Underbanked Consumers

New York, August 21, 2007 — American consumers, disenchanted with the banking industry, seeking more convenience and easier answers to credit and economic woes, will more than double sales of non-traditional financial services, reaching an astounding estimated $389 billion in fees and loans by 2011, according to Non-traditional Financial Services Markets in the U.S.: Unbanked and Underbanked Consumers, a new report from market research publisher Packaged Facts.

Although sales of “traditional” non-traditional services—including check cashing, payday lending, and money orders—are expected to decline over the projected period, wire transfers are expected to grow by $47 billion.

Furthermore, Packaged Facts predicts that prepaid debit cards, the breakout product of the prepaid card segment, will lead the charge as the use of prepaid debit cards soars from $29.3 billion in 2007 to $200 billion in 2011. Other new venues and products such as online Peer-2-Peer lending are also expected to significantly impact future growth.

The non-traditional financial services market serves 28 million unbanked consumers, 44.7 million underbanked individuals, and 11 million unbanked illegal immigrants. Collectively, they earn $1.1 trillion in annual income and spend $12.6 billion on alternative financial transactions annually.

“The growth in the numbers of consumers falling into the Unbanked, Underbanked and
WhyBank? categories is inexorably intertwined with economic trends,” notes Tatjana Meerman, the publisher of Packaged Facts. “At the macro level, economic stagnation combined with real buying power loss from inflation means that across the board, household spending power is declining. At the micro level, individuals who have had their jobs off-shored, who can’t afford health insurance, or who have had their homes foreclosed are not predisposed to reflexively think favorably of mainstream financial services providers.”

Non-traditional Financial Services Markets in the U.S. provides a comprehensive analysis of the U.S. market for financial services targeting the unbanked, underbanked, and WhyBank? consumer segments. The report examines new product trends, offers competitive profiles of industry leaders, and looks at consumer trends and behaviors. The report is available from Packaged Facts by visiting: http://www.packagedfacts.com/Unbanked-1383052. It is also available at MarketResearch.com.

About Packaged Facts
Packaged Facts publishes market intelligence on a wide range of consumer industries, including consumer goods, finance, food and beverage, and demographics. For more information visit www.PackagedFacts.com, or contact Tom Ehart at 240-747-3014, or tehart@marketresearch.com.