Building Financial Stability and an Equitable Recovery for All Californians

 

More than 30 percent of Black households and more than 30 percent of Latino households lack access to basic financial services, like checking and savings accounts, that are critical to financial stability.

The California Public Banking Option Act - AB 1177 (Santiago, Carrillo, Chiu, Garcia, Gonzalez, Kalra, Lee, Ting, Wicks, Gipson), or CalAccount, was signed into law by Gov. Newsom in 2021. The California Public Banking Option Act, forms the CalAccount Blue Ribbon Commission comprised of financial access experts, community members, and representatives from the Treasurer’s office and the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation to oversee a market analysis on how the CalAccount program could be implemented.

The CalAccount program, once approved by the legislature, would establish a state-sponsored retail banking option for every Californian.

 
 

CalAccount provides a stable, accessible financial platform for unbanked and underbanked Californians.

 

CalAccount creates a new retail banking option provided by the state that would offer every Californian

  • a zero-fee, zero-penalty debit account and debit card

  • direct deposit from employers and public benefits

  • automatic bill pay to registered payees

  • recurring payments and donations to account holders’ organizations or charities of choice

  • an infrastructure to support account holders in building credit

  • tools for financial literacy

Who are the unbanked and underbanked in our state?

 

1 in 5

California households

More than

60%

of unbanked households make less than $30,000 annually

More than

30%

of Black California Households

More than

40%

of disabled California Households

More than

30%

of Latino California Households

“I would love to have a bank account because I could be saving the money I’m spending to cash my paycheck, but the fees to keep a bank account are too high and I don’t always have enough money to meet the balance requirements. Right now, I spend about $300 a year just to cash my checks, and that’s money I could be using for clothes for my daughters and for food. A little goes a long way.”

— Maria del Carmen Bentancourt, Fast Food Worker, on why she supports AB 1177

Why CalAccount?

 

Protects users from exorbitant fees of non-bank check casher and pre-paid debit cards by placing critical checks on the ruinous cycle of debt and eviction

Provides a secure means of saving and increases opportunities for account holders to build credit

Addresses the inequities in financial services acutely felt by communities that have been hardest hit by pandemic and recession: discrimination, predatory lending, evictions, and vicious spirals of debt

Join us to close the racial wealth and financial services gap by making CalAccount a reality.