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Archived Project

Consumer Banking

Pew's consumer banking project studied the accounts that Americans rely on every day to manage their finances, including checking accounts, prepaid cards, and mobile payments.

The initiative built partnerships with key stakeholders to advocate for effective consumer protections and a level playing field in the financial marketplace.

Learn more (PDF)

Pew's Model Disclosure Box
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Data Visualization

Who Reads 40 Pages of Disclosures?

The need for a disclosure box

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Data Visualization

The Pew Charitable Trusts consumer banking project’s latest survey of checking accounts, Checks and Balances: 2015 Update, found the median length of disclosure materials for checking account agreements and fee schedules to be 40 pages, excluding addenda and other supplementary documents. Previous research has shown that few consumers read such lengthy information.

Mobile banking is fraught with regulatory overlap, gaps, and ambiguities.
Mobile banking is fraught with regulatory overlap, gaps, and ambiguities.
Issue Brief

Mobile Payments

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Issue Brief

Mobile payments enable consumers to make financial transactions using their smartphones via a website, by sending a text message, or through an app. This technology, in turn, relies on many other consumer products and services, including credit, debit, and prepaid cards; wireless carriers; and nonbank providers such as Apple, Samsung, Google Wallet, and PayPal.

Mobile banking is fraught with regulatory overlap, gaps, and ambiguities.
Mobile banking is fraught with regulatory overlap, gaps, and ambiguities.
Data Visualization

Who Is Regulating Mobile Payments?

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Data Visualization

Every day, Americans use their smartphones to transfer money, pay for goods and services, and make donations. These transactions are collectively referred to as mobile payments. This infographic provides an overview of the many federal agencies that oversee the mobile payments marketplace, including payment processors and products.

Unbanked consumers have a number of concerns about making mobile payments
Unbanked consumers have a number of concerns about making mobile payments
Issue Brief

What Do Consumers Without Bank Accounts Think About Mobile Payments?

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Issue Brief

Mobile payments technology allows customers to make online and point-of-sale purchases, pay bills, and send or receive money from their smartphones via Web browsers, apps, or text messages, and it has the potential to increase financial inclusion for consumers without bank accounts—the unbanked.

The use of mobile wallet apps and mobile banking is on the rise.
The use of mobile wallet apps and mobile banking is on the rise.
Video

Mobile Payments: The Good, the Bad, and the Confusing

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Video

Ever use your smartphone to pay for parking or split the dinner bill with a friend? More people are using their phones as a mobile wallet and most mobile transactions work just fine. But with technology constantly evolving the rules that should protect consumers simply haven’t caught up.

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