In the United States, one in nine households is without a checking account. Black and Hispanic households represent 64% of the country’s unbanked and 47% of its underbanked. Last year, Americans paid an estimated $33.4 billion in overdraft fees. There is a direct relationship between inequality and the lack of a bank account.

Sheena Allen, who in 2019 launched CapWay, a neobank and fintech startup aimed at the unbanked and underbanked, witnessed this a lot in her hometown of Terry, Mississippi. With only one bank in the small community of about 1,000 residents, Terry is considered a bank desert.

Per capita, Mississippi leads the nation in the unbanked.

Knowledge, she said, is the key to change. “My grandmother had this saying that it is hard to blame people for what they don’t know.”