Four FCUs – Black Hills, Minuteman Community, Sentinel and Highmark – along with three banks signed on for the program, offering low-fee starter savings and checking accounts to “unbanked” and “underbanked” people, as well as “second chance” accounts for people who might otherwise be turned away but agree to participate in a financial education course, said Garcia.

Payday lenders, said Garcia, provide a needed service in quickly lending small amounts of money – $500 and under – to people who need it and these “are niches that traditional banks won't handle.”

But the 400% rates that payday shops are charging in South Dakota are harming the people they serve, Garcia said.

Officials of the $910 million Black Hills FCU, the state's largest, said it was actively supporting the “Bank on Rapid City” program to serve the unbanked. They also also noted that Bank Transfer Day itself was mostly a non-event in western South Dakota, with negligible account movement reported.

Wells Fargo has a local presence and pulled out of the “Bank on Rapid City” effort, Garcia said, adding that it was a decision “by its corporate managers outside of Rapid City” after it began implementing $3 debit fees.

The California bank later halted the fees in South Dakota and other states after Bank of America's planned new fees kicked off the Bank Transfer Day phenomenon.

The 'Bank on Rapid City” program, said a release, is designed to “create relationships among local governments, citizens, local banks and credit unions and community partners to ensure that all residents have access to bank accounts, financial education and other asset-building opportunities.”