According to the Center for Financial Services Innovation, a nonprofit research group, consumers in the financially underserved market* spent $173 billion in fees and interest to use $1.94 trillion in financial services in 2016.  The market was projected to expand 8.3% over the following year to $188 billion.  Read the entire presentation here.

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In a market this lucrative, sharks will circle. That's just the way it is.  We need to be proactive. 

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* Who are Underserved Consumers?  The Center for Financial Services Innovation says underserved consumers may struggle with one, two, or all three of these financial challenges:

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1.  Consumers that face barriers to using mainstream financial products effectively due to low-to-moderate incomes or income volatility, circumstances that impact approximately 67 million and 54 million U.S. adults, respectively.

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2.  Consumers that are credit-challenged have subprime credit scores below 600, or are un-scorable due to a lack of sufficient credit file information. There are approximately 91 million U.S. adults who are credit-challenged.

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3.  Consumers that struggle with access to mainstream financial products that meet their needs. This group is estimated at 67 million adults by the FDIC.

 

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Evidence: 

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Eric Wilson and Eva Wolkowitz.  "2017 Financially Underserved Market Size Study."  Center for Financial Services Innovation.  December 2017