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'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

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Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#21

Post by Loughla »

blibble wrote: post #15

> A recent Bankrate survey shows basic monthly service fees range between $5 and $15. Beyond these steady fees, banks earn $4 to $5 each time people withdraw cash from an ATM or need services like getting cashier’s checks. Unexpected bills can result in overdraft fees of about $25 each time an account is overdrawn. are there no free bank accounts in the US? in the UK you can pay to be ripped off and have a "premium"…

Yes there are free accounts. And yes there are accounts where you can get money from an ATM without paying a fee.

Like everything else, there are a multitude of experiences.

Some places have fees. Some don't. Some pay better interest than others. Some have better web options.

Source: I've never paid a fee and have had a checking and savings account for ~ 4 decades.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#22

Post by Kirby64 »

blibble wrote: post #15

> A recent Bankrate survey shows basic monthly service fees range between $5 and $15. Beyond these steady fees, banks earn $4 to $5 each time people withdraw cash from an ATM or need services like getting cashier’s checks. Unexpected bills can result in overdraft fees of about $25 each time an account is overdrawn. are there no free bank accounts in the US? in the UK you can pay to be ripped off and have a "premium"…

There’s plenty of free bank accounts. Almost every bank offers them, too, or they’re free with stuff that the “average” person would do (ie, have 2 direct deposits per month).

Overdrafts are another story, many bank accounts allow overdrafts and even do predatory things to increase the amount of overdraft fees. Bank of America got sued for this behavior.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#23

Post by csunbird »

blibble wrote: post #15

> A recent Bankrate survey shows basic monthly service fees range between $5 and $15. Beyond these steady fees, banks earn $4 to $5 each time people withdraw cash from an ATM or need services like getting cashier’s checks. Unexpected bills can result in overdraft fees of about $25 each time an account is overdrawn. are there no free bank accounts in the US? in the UK you can pay to be ripped off and have a "premium"…

In Germany, all banks have to offer you a girokonto regardless of your credit status or your occupancy - a basic account where you can deposit money, receive/send money and make payments from.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#24

Post by beaeglebeached »

tracerbulletx wrote: post #14
woodruffw wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chime is not a bank; it’s a financial services company. This distinction is important: people who depend solely on bank-adjacent financial services are more likely to lack access to ordinary banking services for the reasons mentioned in the article.

That's well and good but isn't the article about the impact of businesses going cashless? I talk to a lot of homeless and other low income people through some work I do and they generally have a Venmo card or something like that and don't have an issue with cashless transactions.

How KYC do?

Was 'homeless'. Bank say no bueno, could be terrorist. I can legally carry gun no problem without papers in bank though, lmao.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#25

Post by bonyt »

YoyoyoPCP wrote: post #17

Dumb guy question: why does the US government not offer all citizens a bank account? Is there some constitutional reason against it?

Many have proposed having government-provided small-scale banking as an option, administered through the post office. It's a government office, with branches in every town, that already handles things like money orders.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#26

Post by blibble »

csunbird wrote: post #23
blibble wrote: post #15

> A recent Bankrate survey shows basic monthly service fees range between $5 and $15. Beyond these steady fees, banks earn $4 to $5 each time people withdraw cash from an ATM or need services like getting cashier’s checks. Unexpected bills can result in overdraft fees of about $25 each time an account is overdrawn. are there no free bank accounts in the US? in the UK you can pay to be ripped off and have a "premium"…

In Germany, all banks have to offer you a girokonto regardless of your credit status or your occupancy - a basic account where you can deposit money, receive/send money and make payments from.

yes, same true here

I seem to remember that was a compromise of the government forcing companies to pay wages via electronic transfer

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#27

Post by JumpCrisscross »

sbeckeriv wrote: post #19

Why are businesses no longer accepting cash? What are the positives and negatives for businesses? What are the positives and negatives of accepting cash for businesses? Other then 6 million people across the united states cannot buy from your shop. I can guess at reasons for both but I do not run a business.

> Why are businesses no longer accepting cash? What are the positives and negatives for businesses?

It's expensive to store and transport. It gets stolen, by employees and robbers. You get handed bad bills.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#28

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

mindwok wrote: post #11

Card-based transactions becoming so pervasive has made me wonder if countries should start redirecting their efforts to building nationalised payment infrastructure that would allow citizens to transact electronically with zero fees, rather than their main function being managing and printing physical currency. Maybe some countries have done this already, but in Australia at least we're basically building our entire…

Wouldn't surprise me if China has already done this.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#29

Post by myself248 »

mindwok wrote: post #11

Card-based transactions becoming so pervasive has made me wonder if countries should start redirecting their efforts to building nationalised payment infrastructure that would allow citizens to transact electronically with zero fees, rather than their main function being managing and printing physical currency. Maybe some countries have done this already, but in Australia at least we're basically building our entire…

Worse, is that Visa/MC/Paypal are "private" companies which can impose whatever religious slant they want, on whatever transactions they want, and your recourse as a consumer is "use the free market to pick a different payment processor".

Cash doesn't care if you're buying groceries or porn. Visa very much does.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#30

Post by woodruffw »

tracerbulletx wrote: post #14
woodruffw wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chime is not a bank; it’s a financial services company. This distinction is important: people who depend solely on bank-adjacent financial services are more likely to lack access to ordinary banking services for the reasons mentioned in the article.

That's well and good but isn't the article about the impact of businesses going cashless? I talk to a lot of homeless and other low income people through some work I do and they generally have a Venmo card or something like that and don't have an issue with cashless transactions.

I think there’s a reasonable observation to be made that these kinds of services companies have filled a historically underserved niche.

At the same time, they are fundamentally not banks and are not subject to a whole slew of consumer protection regulations that ensure reliable access to funds. Venmo and PayPal are both infamous for their capricious account suspension policies (which I have personally experienced).

That’s a long way of saying that it isn’t nothing, but is also not the best we can do. It also doesn’t necessarily guarantee service users access to retail (since the cards that come with these financial providers are typically tied to banks and accompanying KYC controls).

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