Ah, sweet April! The month when buds bloom, birds return, and thoughts turn to compound yield certificates of deposit and the proper balance to sustain a no-fee checking account.

Yes, April, known by many as the season of Easter and Passover, is more commonly known in banking circles as Financial Literacy Month. It’s the time of year when cooperatives, commercial banks and savings banks all put their biggest effort out to teach the Occupy movement why it’s a good idea to not bounce checks. Or, given the age demographic, what a “check” is at all.

It’s not that April is the only time of year when banks engage in teaching consumers what banking is all about, it’s just the time a spotlight is put on it. Certainly, many consumers have far too little knowledge of what being “banked” means, or how they should be carrying on their fiscal affairs. It’s why the credit card company Visa teamed up with Marvel Comics this month to produce a special edition of “The Avengers.” Produced in English and seven other languages, “Avengers: Saving the Day” features superheroes Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and others in a fast-paced story about a bank robbery, “which emphasizes why budgeting and saving are so important,” Visa says.

On the face of it, though, doesn’t that seem absurd? Visa is trying to reach young people and the unbanked masses using a colorful, easy-to-understand vehicle. But since these groups are already skittish of banks, telling them to trust a bank that may be robbed may not be sending the right message. After all, if a real-life bank gets robbed, Spider-Man isn’t going to get the money back. Maybe Visa could have crafted the story a little better.

Fishing For Answers

And while this may sound like a facetious take on an important subject, it’s not. Just take a look at the work done last year by the UMass Dartmouth Policy Analysis Research Team, which dove into New Bedford to find out why so much of the Whaling City’s low-income population remains unbanked. As a matter of fact, says the Dartmouth team, “In New Bedford, traditional banking relationships are not common.”

New Bedford has a high unemployment rate (12.5 percent at the time of the study, substantially higher than the 7.4 percent statewide average). It also has a large immigrant population, and both those factors add up to a lot of people who don’t trust banks, or don’t think they need one. Nationwide, about 20 percent of the population doesn’t use a bank; in New Bedford, that figure is 27 percent. About 9 percent of the city’s low-income population has never had any “formal relationship” with a bank or credit union.

It’s not that the banks aren’t trying. All state-chartered banks are required by Massachusetts law to provide a no-fee, no-minimum-balance account. The researchers noted that “several [New Bedford] area banks participate in the Massachusetts Community and Banking Council’s Basic Banking Program, which provides customers with access to a low-fee ($3 per month), no minimum-balance account with ATM and check-writing privileges.”

There is no evidence, however, that access to low-cost banking services is the problem. And the issue isn’t convenience. Several of those banks are located within walking distance of New Bedford’s most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

The researchers concluded that “interviews and focus groups reveal a lack of awareness of such products and services, suggesting that special outreach efforts specifically targeted to the low-income community may be required.”

Yet the UMass team also noted that “despite the disadvantages, being unbanked can appear to be a rational choice for those with very low incomes and a short-term perspective. If they cash checks infrequently, don’t save or borrow money, and use supermarkets or other low-cost, nonbank check-cashing outlets, the cost of being unbanked is not high in the short run.”

But the “cost” of being unbanked rises as people without bank accounts miss savings opportunities, and if their income grows.

While the New Bedford low-income group doesn’t trust banks, and believes bank fees are too high, changing individuals’ behavior may be intensely difficult. Many of the respondents reported living essentially in a cash environment. Amazingly, nearly 16 percent said their landlords don’t accept checks (Hint to the IRS: start visiting New Bedford landlords).

More importantly, however, the biggest issue in financial literacy in New Bedford may be outside the ability of banks to fix it. While the UMass team rightly concluded that “we can ill afford to allow another generation of low-income families to suffer the consequences of financial ignorance,” the problem may lie more starkly in lack of education in general.

The New Bedford school system, for example, already has financial education in its curriculum. But according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, New Bedford’s four-year high school graduation rate is a miserable 53 percent.

April’s weather usually brings out colorful flowers. Maybe Visa’s colorful comic book approach is the right one after all. We don’t need superheroes to foil the bank robbers. We need superheroes to teach people the basic skills they need to live.

Vincent M. Valvo is CEO of Agility Resources Group. Email: vvalvo@agilityresourcesgroup.com.