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I always feel like I'm missing something when the term "unbanked" is used. As far as I can tell, there are people that have opened a bank account and there are people that have not opened a bank account. It seems odd to call the second category of people "the unbanked" as it implies they are being prevented from getting a bank account when in fact they can get a bank account at any time.

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It's not so easy when you're paid in cash, and there's no nearby bank branch to deposit your cash. Even checks aren't so great when you don't have a nearby branch to deposit them.

There are a lot of reasons why poor people can't maintain bank accounts. Everything is harder and more expensive when you're poor. Banks don't want to open branches where people don't have much money; it's not profitable.

They're the ones that "unbanked" refers to. There's a lot of thought about how to get them over that initial hump of having a bank account, which might make their lives better.

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