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Most of us don\u2019t think twice about how easy it is to access money. If you\u2019re like me, it\u2019s so easy you can do it before your first cup of coffee.<\/p>\n
Select, swipe, sip.<\/p>\n
But for too many Arkansans, just accessing their money is a challenge. Nationally, seven percent of people are unbanked and 19.9 percent are underbanked. In Arkansas, those numbers are even more striking: 9.7 percent and 22.6 percent.<\/p>\n
To illustrate these challenges, Southern Bancorp partnered with the Financial Health Network<\/a> to host FinX, an empathy-building event in which participants complete a series of daily tasks like cashing a paycheck, moving money to another person, and buying household items.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s a catch: they cannot use traditional banking services like debit cards or direct deposit. Instead, participants must rely on alternative financial services (AFS) like reloadable cash cards, check cashers, or wire transfers. Tasks that may take a person with a banking relationship five minutes to do often take the full two-hour event. Then there\u2019s the fees that come with most AFS transactions.<\/p>\n On top of building empathy, the event also highlighted a potential solution.<\/p>\n Bank On Arkansas+ started \u2013 quite literally \u2013 as a big idea<\/a> to build a coalition of public, private, and nonprofit partners to help decrease the ranks of the unbanked and underbanked populations by offering a safe, easy-to-use bank account.<\/p>\n As Southern Bancorp CEO Darrin Williams said in the initial Arkansas Times<\/em> Big Idea Pitch, \u201cThe national \u201cBank On\u201d movement is an attempt to address the problem by encouraging financial institutions to join together and encourage one another to create \u201csafe\u201d accounts, low-cost bank accounts that provide households with a safe place to save, conduct basic financial business and build a credit history.\u201d<\/p>\n Bringing the national movement \u2013 started by the Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) Fund<\/a> \u2013 to Arkansas added to the 84 coalitions and over 22,000 bank or credit union branches across the country that offer a Bank On Account. The organization\u2019s<\/a> goal is to \u201censure that everyone has access to a safe and affordable bank or credit union account.\u201d<\/p>\n Southern\u2019s BankOn certified product \u2013 called the Opportunity Card<\/a> \u2013 is available throughout Southern\u2019s markets and features a low monthly fee, no overdraft or non-sufficient fund fees, no minimum opening deposit, free bill pay, check cashing, and online and mobile banking. Similar accounts can be found throughout the state at other coalition member\u2019s institutions.<\/p>\n Since its beginning, the BankOn Arkansas+ coalition has grown to over 60 private, public, and nonprofit entities.<\/p>\n Last Tuesday, the coalition added its newest member when Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott announced that the City of Little Rock was joining the Bank On Arkansas+ coalition. The announcement followed the Mayor\u2019s participation in FinX, and marks the first municipal partnership.<\/p>\n \u201cBy working together in a public-private partnership, financial institutions, community organizations, and governments can work to alleviate poverty by giving citizens tools they need to reduce debt, build savings and create stronger financial foundations here in Little Rock and beyond,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n For more information on BankOn Arkansas+, visit https:\/\/www.bankonar.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n