[fubu]

I'm a fan of what Bayes Impact, but the article opening seems really naive about what the financial situation is for a pretty big chunk of US residents.

>> As a Westerner, getting a credit card is only slightly more complicated than tying my shoes. My world is raining with opportunities to borrow money to go to school, open a store, consolidate loans, or buy an iPhone 6.

A little under 10% in the US are without a bank. And the "Underbanked", people have some type of banking but still use Money Orders and stuff like Payday loans, is over 20%. I wouldn't say "Raining with opportunities" lines up too closely with those people.

Like I said, it's great to see what Bayes Impact is trying to help, but just needed to clarify a bit about the US.

https://www.fdic.gov/householdsurvey/2012_unbankedreport.pdf

Edit: Updated to clarify that this was directed to the tone of the article opening, not the author. I had previously used the word "author" instead of "article"

[pyduan]

It is true financial access is a problem even in developed countries like the US -- though it is nothing compared to the situation of people in developing countries (and I would say calling the author naive is an unnecessary stretch), you are right in that it's important to raise awareness about the underbanked in the US as well.

You'd be glad to hear we are actually working with other financial institutions in the US like Opportunity Fund that provides microloans to Californians. At Bayes Impact, we have a commitment to building repeatable processes -- the good thing with using data to tackle problems is that it allows us to benefit from economies of scale when working with different actors that are facing similar problems.

[fubu]

I didn't mean to come across as saying the author was unaware, partly because I'm positive the author is extremely well versed in the financial industries within the US. I meant to relay that it "seemed" that way from what was written to open that article.

I should have clarified more explicitly that I was discussing the way the article appeared and not trying to make a statement about the authors aptitude or understanding of the US situation. My apologies to the author.