Congress creates new office to study why millions lack bank accounts
H.R. 2890 — Financial Inclusion in Banking Act of 2025 · Filed by David Scott (D-GA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 10, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates a new Office of Community Affairs within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to study why millions of Americans lack bank accounts and develop strategies to increase banking access for low-income, minority, and underserved communities. The office will coordinate research across federal agencies, consult with banks and consumer advocates, and report to Congress every two years on barriers to banking and recommendations to expand financial inclusion.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is establishing a research and coordination office within the CFPB to address banking access gaps for underserved populations. It is a straightforward institutional capacity-building measure with no hidden provisions or narrow beneficiaries.
What the text implies
- Expanded CFPB authority and budget allocation may face political resistance from banking-friendly legislators; the bill does not specify funding levels, creating potential implementation gaps.
- Mandatory consultation with depository institutions and trade associations gives banks a formal voice in shaping financial inclusion strategy, potentially moderating recommendations that would increase compliance costs.
- Biennial reporting requirement creates accountability but may be insufficient to drive rapid policy change; two-year cycles allow regulatory drift between reports.
Who it affects
The bill directly benefits unbanked and underbanked consumers by establishing dedicated institutional capacity to identify and remove barriers to banking access. Low-income and minority households gain from research-driven strategies to increase financial inclusion, which historically correlates with improved credit access, savings capacity, and economic mobility.
Who stands to gain
- community banks and credit unions (expanded customer base, regulatory goodwill)
- fintech and alternative financial services (potential partnerships with CFPB research)
- minority depository institutions (explicit consultation and partnership opportunities)
Named in the bill
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Office of Community Affairs, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), depository institutions, minority depository institutions, Consumer Advisory Board
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Apr 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,005,758 in lobbying spend. A filing names 133 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
David Scott, the sponsor, reported $287,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies — $1,005,758 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jul 2, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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