The proportion of unbanked households declined to 7.7 percent last year, down from 8.2 percent in 2011, says the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in its 2013 National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households released last month.  

The survey also indicated that the share of underbanked households remained essentially unchanged at 20 percent.

 The decrease in the proportion of the unbanked can be explained by improving economic conditions and the changing demographic composition of households, the FDIC said in a press release announcing the survey’s release.

The survey, conducted every two years by the FDIC in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of the Census, provides the banking industry and policymakers with insights and guidance on the demographics and needs of the unbanked and underbanked.

Underbanked individuals are those who have bank accounts but don’t have access to a full range of banking services for one reason or another.

“The findings of this survey add to our understanding of the challenges facing unbanked and underbanked households and underscore the value of the FDIC’s partnership with the Census to do this survey every two years,” FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said in the release.

New to the 2013 survey were questions related to how consumers access their bank accounts. Nearly two out of three households primarily used bank tellers or online banking when accessing their accounts. These banking methods, along with ATMs, were also the primary methods underbanked households used to access their account.

Notably, though, underbanked households were more likely to use mobile banking devices relative to other groups: Just over 29 percent of underbanked households used mobile devices to access their account compared to 21.7 percent of fully banked households.

In addition, the survey found that 9.6 million households representing 25 million people were unbanked in 2013. The 0.5 percentage point decline in the proportion of unbanked households is estimated to comprise 1.5 million people and more than half a million households. 

One in five, or 24 million, households were underbanked in 2013, comprising an estimated 68 million people.

More than a third of unbanked households reported the main reason for not having an account being insufficient money to keep in an account or to meet minimum balance requirements. A similar percentage of households that recently became unbanked experienced either a significant income loss or job loss that they said contributed to becoming unbanked.

Of unbanked households, more than a fifth reported using a prepaid debit card in the prior 12 months, compared with 13 percent of underbanked and 5 percent of fully banked households.

One-quarter of households have used at least one alternative financial service, such as nonbank check cashing or payday loans in the past year. That percentage is unchanged from the previous survey.