Earlier this week, both The New York Times and Vox highlighted research from the U.S. Financial Diaries focused on informal finance.
Low-income households often do not have access to formal financial services and operate in the "invisible finance sector," leaving them with no credit history. (According to The New York Times, around 54 million people in the U.S. and 4.5 billion globally do not have credit standing.) Both Vox and the Times discuss what it means to be credit invisible, informal coping strategies (like savings groups), and possible ways of integrating the traditional model with credit rating agencies.
Below are additional resources for more on informal finance and how this issue affects USFD households:
- An Invisible Finance Sector: How Households Use Financial Tools of Their Own Making
- Rita Douglas: Getting By With Help from Friends