DreamFi Is Designed To Meet People Where They Are By Helping Unbanked And Underbanked Americans With The Financial Tools They Need
Two nationally known figures, one from the courtroom and one from hip hop, are joining forces to address financial access in communities that have long been underserved by traditional banking systems.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, co founder of DreamFi, has partnered with LL COOL J to bring the fintech platform to unbanked and underbanked Americans. Their message is centered on a simple idea: people do not have to be wealthy to begin building wealth.
“It is not for the elites, it’s not for those who have all the money in the world. It is for that everyday person with $10, $20, $30, $40, all of that matters,” LL COOL J told TheGrio.
DreamFi Focuses On Everyday Financial Access
The wealth gap DreamFi aims to address has disproportionately affected communities of color, where limited access to traditional banking continues to shape household stability and long term opportunity.
According to a 2023 national survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 4.2% of U.S. households, or about 5.6 million people, were unbanked. Another 14.2% of U.S. households, or about 19 million people, were considered underbanked.
Crump said many people in communities of color remain stuck using check cashing services because they do not have access to bank accounts.
“In most communities of color, we have the unbanked and the underbanked members of our community that are still out there in those check cashing lines around the corner because they don’t have bank accounts and they are literally paying 10, 15, 20%, sometimes 25% of their hard earned check just to be able to cash it,” Crump said.
DreamFi offers a debit card with direct deposit, credit monitoring, life insurance, affordable phone plans, roadside assistance and financial literacy tools through an app. The goal is to give users practical support that can help them manage money, build credit and move toward long term financial stability.
“You can have your money hit at 12 midnight, where you’re not having to wait in the check cashing line. You can pay your bills to help build your credit,” Crump said. “When your credit rating goes up, we tell you that you can afford to get a lower interest rate on your automobile, so that means you can save a little more money to put in a college fund for your children or save for a down payment for a home.”
Financial Literacy Becomes Part Of The Civil Rights Conversation
Both Crump and LL COOL J tied the work to family history and lessons passed down across generations.
LL COOL J, born Todd Smith, said his grandfather’s work ethic shaped how he understands persistence and opportunity. His grandfather shined shoes, handled baggage at John F. Kennedy International Airport, worked at the post office, fixed his own car to save money and pursued an engineering degree.
“I learned how important it is to keep going. I learned that dreams don’t have deadlines,” LL COOL J said.
He said he has often wondered how access to financial services like DreamFi could have helped his grandparents and mother.
Crump also connected the platform to his own family story.
“I can only think what my beautiful Black mother would have been able to accomplish had she had the benefit of financial literacy,” Crump said. “God blessed me to be very successful, more successful than anybody in my family ever dreamed of, and what we have to do now is make room for other people at the table.”
LL COOL J said the partnership felt natural because of the financial mistakes he made early in life after entering the music industry as a young artist.
“When Ben founded the company and asked me to come on as a partner, be a part of what he was doing and support what he was doing, it felt really natural because I made so many financial mistakes as a little kid, getting into music early and buying every gold chain I could find and every car I could drive. So this felt right to me,” he said.
DreamFi Aims To Build A Financial Mindset Across Generations
Financial literacy is often not taught early enough in schools or homes, leaving many families without the basic tools needed to manage money, budget or plan for the future.
According to DreamFi’s Access and Equity Study, 56% of respondents said they rarely or never learned basic financial concepts such as budgeting in school. The study also found that 54% of Americans learned budgeting or financial planning from parents or guardians, but only 28% of parents and guardians said they feel confident teaching children about financial literacy.
By race, about 79% of Black respondents said they sought out financial education, followed by 71% of Hispanic respondents and 69% of white respondents, according to the study.
For Crump and LL COOL J, DreamFi’s success will not only be measured by revenue. They said the larger goal is helping families afford emergencies, reliable transportation, education and a stronger financial foundation for future generations.
“DreamFi is successful if our children have the benefit of having financial literacy, not just things, but a mentality that I understand I have to be disciplined, I have to be budgeted, and I have to have a plan on how I have financial freedom,” Crump said.
LL COOL J said the real inheritance is not only money, but the mindset that allows people to keep building.
“Instead of me just running around the country showing off and bragging about my wealth, I’m actually saying, you know what, I wanna redirect this and put this energy into something that’s gonna help the community,” LL COOL J said. “Dreams don’t have deadlines. Each one teach one.”
