The pandemic was miserable for everyone by its very nature, but the hardship did not exactly fall evenly across the population. For the unbanked and underbanked, according to reports, the sledding was more than a little rough as they often lacked access to the digital economy that has kept so many other consumers afloat for the last year or so.

“To be unbanked in America today means that families are unable to fully participate in our financial system,” Signe-Mary McKernan of the Urban Institute told News 4 New York of the unbanked population in the city. “If you don’t have access to credit when you need it you’re going to end up turning to payday lenders where you’re going to end up paying a lot more and end up in a spiral of debt.”

It has also meant that as stimulus checks have rolled out these consumers have often had to wait the longest for relief funds, since they have no accounts into which the IRS can directly deposit their funds, leaving them waiting on the perennially delayed USPS.

U.S. consumers have been more optimistic in March regarding the next six to nine months than they were at the beginning of this year. Two recently released studies — University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index and the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index — climbed in March.

The ramp up of nationwide deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, a strong recovery of the U.S. economy, injection of a massive $1.9 trillion coronavirus-aid package, muted inflation and President Joe Biden's plan to overhaul U.S. infrastructure and manufacturing are the primary reasons for a surge in consumers' optimism.

On Mar 30, the Conference Board reported that Consumer Confidence in March jumped to a one-year high of 109.7 from the downwardly revised 90.4 in February.

The pandemic has served as the biggest financial industry crisis since the 2008 recession, with social distancing guidelines, stay-at-home orders and the economic fallout, forming a triple threat that has rocked the sector. Thousands of bank branches across the U.S. have closed temporarily or permanently while others have limited their hours or switched to appointment-only models to reduce the risk of infection.

Greater shares of bank customers have applied for government-backed loans or set up new accounts to receive stimulus money than ever before, however. Financial institutions (FIs) have responded by pulling out all of the stops with their digital banking systems to close the demand gap, testing the digital networks they have spent the past decade developing and improving. Larger banks with more sophisticated in-house digital operations have experienced greater success than their smaller counterparts, but staying on top of customers’ demands for digital services has been challenging for every FI.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A coalition of lawmakers and financial services advocates joined together to announce landmark legislation that would offer zero-cost, zero-penalty bank accounts to all Californians, it was announced in a statement Tuesday.

The California Public Banking Option Act (AB 1177), also known as BankCal, creates public banking legislation with existing financial institutions to close the widening racial wealth gap fueled by the exclusion of low-wage communities of color from basic banking services.

BankCal would be the first statewide program in the nation that offers residents access to a no-fee, no-penalty bank account that includes debit cards, automatic bill pay, direct deposit capacity and a platform for account holders to build credit.

(CNN)The Biden administration is expanding the pause on student loan interest and collections to the more than a million borrowers who are in default on loans made by private lenders, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.

"This step particularly protects 800,000 borrowers who are at risk of having their tax refunds seized," Psaki said at a White House briefing.

The pause on collections covers loans made as part of the Federal Family Education Loan Program. It does not apply to borrowers who are not in default.

Biden has resisted calls from top congressional Democrats -- including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren -- to use his executive authority to forgive $50,000 in federal student loan debt per borrower.