14 million American adults don't have a bank account. They're still waiting for a stimulus payment.

• The Internal Revenue Service has paid out about half of all stimulus checks so far, the majority of which were delivered by direct deposit.
• But more than 14 million American adults do not have a bank account.
• Disproportionately poor, black, and Hispanic, "unbanked" Americans are still waiting for paper checks.
• When they receive them, they could be charged up to 10% of a check's total value at a check-cashing store.
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A historic $2 trillion government bailout has given cash to millions of working Americans and delivered payments to businesses large and small.

But though the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act has distributed money to millions of bank accounts, there are still 14 million Americans who don't have one.

"I live check to check, and right now I need more groceries," Akeil Smith, a 35-year-old health aide worker without a bank account, told the Associated Press outside a check-cashing store in Brooklyn.

"Unbanked" Americans are disproportionately poor, black, and Hispanic, according to a 2017 survey from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

According to the FDIC, unbanked Americans make up 6.5% of the country's households. Around 14.1 million adults are unbanked.

"Unbanked and underbanked rates were higher among lower-income households, less-educated households, younger households, black and Hispanic households, working-age disabled households, and households with volatile income," the FDIC reported in 2017, the last time it conducted such a survey.

Nearly 17% of black households were unbanked that year, as were 14% of Hispanic households and more than 20% of those making under $15,000 per year.

The Internal Revenue Service has meted out around half of the government's stimulus cash for workers. Individuals who made under $75,000 in 2019 will receive a $1,200 check, and married couples making under $150,000 will get $2,400. The IRS will also pay $500 per additional child.

Around half of all stimulus payments have been sent out, primarily by direct deposit. The IRS created an online portal to facilitate the depositing process, but the system offers nothing to people without savings or checking accounts, according to the Associated Press.

People without bank accounts will have to wait weeks, or even months, while the IRS prints and mails them a paper check. The IRS will issue about 5 million paper checks per week, according to a House Ways and Means memo seen by the Associated Press.

Of all unbanked Americans, more than 29% said they don't have a bank account because the "fees are too high," and nearly 25% said the fees were "too unpredictable," according to the FDIC. When unbanked Americans do receive their paper checks, they won't be able to access the money until they pay a fee for it at a check-cashing store.

"They charge you an arm and a leg," Ta'Mar Bethune, 41, told the Associated Press.

Check-cashers typically charge between 1% and 10% of the check's value.

"You never get your full money," Bethune said. "It's bad, but I have no other choice."

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