Abstract for: The Use of Financial Products and Services in Low Income African-American Communities

This poster summarizes a project designed to explore the complex social system that influences households’ decision to use banks and other financial institutions. The dynamic hypothesis was that the number of unbanked and under banked African-Americans in the region was due to a complex interaction of individual behaviors, banking policies and practices, and those of the payday lending industry. The project was designed to develop a grounded theory describing households’ experiences related to financial institutions and how financial decisions based on previous experiences impacted their household economic security. Group model building methods were used to gather insights from banks, alternative financial institutions, and community residents.