Being unbanked means that an individual does not have a checking or savings account with a bank or credit union. Instead, they may rely on alternative financial services, such as prepaid cards, nonbank online payment services, nonbank money orders, or check cashing and cash. The unbanked are described by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as those adults without an account at a bank or other financial institution and are considered to be outside the mainstream for one reason or another. According to a 2018 estimate by the Federal Reserve, there are 55 million unbanked or underbanked adult Americans, which account for 22 percent of U.S. households. The majority of the unbanked and underbanked are American-born, while a growing number are immigrants where the two groups have low income as a commonality and lack the minimum balance to open checking and savings accounts. The main reasons for being unbanked include cost, lack of trust, privacy concerns, high bank account fees, and lack of convenience.