According to the British government-backed watchdog, Consumer Focus, almost 1,000,000 Britons - or about 2% of the British population - does not have a bank account. If we were to extrapolate these figures to the United States, where to 2010 census reported 308,745,538 residents, we would assume that at least 6 million people do not have bank accounts. Many have preyed on this group in order to extract great fees, such as Russell Simmons, media mogul and founder of Def Jam Records who introduced the Rush Card, a prepaid debit card that caters to the underbanked needs. Yet, nobody has addressed this group's fundamental problem: How to maintain financial stability in this economy and society.

So, what is the option for this population? They could work exclusively with cash, but in today's society paperless is becoming the norm and cash itself is fragile. It can be lost, damaged or stolen. Further, how many employers pay cash? Another more viable option is that this population use check cashing establishments. However immediate this solution is, the fees are high and this does not establish any sort of credit or build savings.

One upstart bank in the South Bronx is focused on the needs of the unbanked and underbanked to improve the socio-economic environment of the area. Four year old CheckSpring Bank is targeting this population in the Greater New York City Metro Area. It identifies its purpose as establishing a low cost alternative to check cashing establishments while allowing those customers to establish credit, build assets and save money. These are often habits and traits taken for granted, but are in fact are learned behaviors.

CheckSpring is specifically located in the Bronx to counter the Crain's New York Business observation that, "While [in 2007] Manhattan boast(ed) just 3,000 people per bank branch, the South Bronx (had) about 15,000 residents per branch." CheckSpring is FDIC insured and has created a following of these underbanked consumers. To encourage the transition to mainstream financial products, CheckSpring offers customers a choice between convenience services such as check cashing, bill pay and money transfers, and the deposit and lending products available at traditional banks.

This asset based society needs money to grow. By having underbanked consumers begin to create a foundation of assets the bank then can lend to local businesses. CheckSpring is an approved SBA (Small Business Administration) lender. CheckSpring also offers youth savings match programs, tax refund match programs and check casher-to-depositor transition products. Traditional savings, checking and CD accounts are also available.

To further its mission, CheckSpring is partnered with Ariva Inc., a Bronx based non-profit that provides customers with access to free tax preparation services and financial education classes. CheckSpring also partners with Seedco, Newark Now and Food Bank for New York to support asset building programs throughout the region.

While "banking" and "banker" is often [recently] deemed selfish or opaque or greedy, some banks are actively motivating change. It should be noted CheckSpring is not a non-profit organization, the end game is for the stakeholders of CheckSpring to make money and that one need not be of the underbanked population to use their services and products. Currently it is a small bank focused on the unbanked segment; however, they have plans to expand their model to other regions.

First Federal Savings and Loan of Pascagoula, MS is offering a 3.25% APY 60-Month CD. That's currently the highest rate in the nation according to the BestCashCow CD rate tables.

I spoke with the bank today and unfortunately, the offer is only available locally to residents of Jackson County. The bank has 6 branches and $260 million in assets. It's Texas Ratio of 18.26% is below the national average of 24.44%.

According to the representative I spoke with, rates changed on February 11th and actually went up on 60 month and 80 month CDs. This is not suprising as banks try to lock in money for long periods of time at low rates. The banks know that eventually rates will turn up.

You can find great local cd rates on BestCashCow for any zip code in the country. By shopping around, most consumers can earn an extra half-percentage point on their money without taking any additional risk.

Find the best local CD Rates by clicking through on the CD table above.

On the heels of JPMorgan Chase offering mortgage help to members of the military and their families, Bank of America has decided to do some things to help those who serve our country when it comes to their mortgages.

Two main things that the bank is doing include offering lower interest rates to military members as well as an offer to reduce the mortgage principal. The announcement came last week as the military customer base has become a demographic that now has its own customer service department. Here are a few more details of BofA’s offerings to military members and their immediate families:

• For military borrowers who are leaving active duty, BofA is going to offer a reduction in their mortgage rates as well as a longer term to pay back their mortgage so their monthly payments will be more affordable.
• Those military members who are leaving active duty may be eligible to receive forgiveness on their principal as much as 100 percent of the value of the property. To be eligible, the borrower must be late on their payments. This particular measure is designed to help those military families who are underwater in their mortgages.
• In order to receive any of these benefits, the military members must be eligible for the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act benefits.

Terry Laughlin, the executive vice president of Bank of America, said the new measures to help the military borrowers are the latest in the bank’s “long-standing commitment to the United States military forces” and the benefits will help ease the financial burden on “those who are protecting our freedoms.” The odd part about this story is that it was only two days prior to the announcement of these new benefits when BofA executives said that reducing mortgage principles would create a “moral hazard” in the housing industry. Some executives said that if special consideration is given to some people who fall behind in their mortgage payments, what would stop other borrowers from falling behind simply so they can get their debt reduced as well? However, if any home loan borrowers deserve this kind of protection, they are the ones who serve our country without fail.

The new program is scheduled to begin on April 1. The bank has put together a team that is specifically designed for working with military mortgage loans to help those who are leaving active duty make their payments once they return home.