“Approximately 3.5 billion of the world’s adults do not use formal financial services.”
Even when access to a formal lending institution is possible—and many lack access, especially in rural areas—most of these persons are “Credit Invisibles.” Credit Invisibles have no credit data, and mainstream lenders use automated underwriting systems requiring this data—such as a credit report. When none is available, lenders automatically reject an applicant.
The CFPB has recently updated and revised their estimate of the size of Credit Invisible population in the US. See an article here about this.