'Unbanked' but No Longer Ignored

For years, the country's makeshift network of payday lenders and check cashers has operated with little competition or federal regulation.

But as the financial crisis sparks a new wave of consumer protections, lawmakers and the private sector alike are training their sights on an industry that caters to the most vulnerable of populations: the estimated 40 million households on the margins of the nation's financial system, with limited, if any, access to banks or credit.