The Unbanked Among U.S. Hispanic/Latinx Households: A Literature Review

This scoping review examined what is known in the literature about Hispanic/Latinx unbanked households. It used Arksey and O'Malley’s (2005) five-step process to analyze 12 peer-reviewed research articles from preselected databases and journals. Using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) Reflexive Thematic Analysis, the author constructed three themes to synthesize the literature. The first theme is about data sets used that include both nationally representative data sets and smaller data sets collected locally. The second theme showed that “unbanked” has not been consistently defined across the literature varying according to the account type, institution type, and account owner. The third theme revealed the reasons why Hispanic/Latinx households might be unbanked. The results have implications for future research and financial practitioners who work with Hispanic/Latinx clientele.