The Real Reason The Poor Go Without Bank Accounts
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The Real Reason The Poor Go Without Bank Accounts
1–10 of 232 posts
Re: The Real Reason The Poor Go Without Bank Accounts
#2This comment on the article reflects why many people that I have met personally do not have checking accounts or bank accounts. They are worried about having money seized.
From the comment section of the article -"If you would really like to know why poor people regular these establishments I'll tell you why: it's because they keep you off the grid. I used to have a checking account too all my life. But after I lost my job, even though I'm a fulltime single father, the "child extort" kidnappers levied my checking account several times. They just took money at will no questions asked. There was no rules stopping them and nothing I could do. The Sheriff of Nottingham might as well been barging in me and my daughters tiny apartment and stealing all of our shillings. So after the "child extort" agency did this 3 times, I shut down the account. And from that moment forward I just began to live off the grid using cash and money orders. "
Re: The Real Reason The Poor Go Without Bank Accounts
#3So basically the check cashers have become more like banks, and folks who are short on human interaction value that more than the extra couple bucks a monolith that pushes you to an ATM (that may charge you extra for your withdrawal as well) costs.
Wonder if any banks will see this as a proper wake up call...
Re: The Real Reason The Poor Go Without Bank Accounts
#4This article validates one my key beefs with "big data" - databases (like chexsystems in the article) remove slack from the system. Humans need slack and only humans can provide slack.
In the short term that may seem like a good idea, removing slack appears to increase efficiency. But in the long run it is socially destructive -- we are all people, not just numbers and reducing us to numbers ignores much of the realities of life. When you can't take into account the realities of life, then the imperfect systems that the databases model as perfect fall apart.
Re: The Real Reason The Poor Go Without Bank Accounts
#5So basically the check cashers have become more like banks, and folks who are short on human interaction value that more than the extra couple bucks a monolith that pushes you to an ATM (that may charge you extra for your withdrawal as well) costs. Wonder if any banks will see this as a proper wake up call...
What banks can do is pretty tightly regulated and I wonder if it would be legal for a bank to handle the overdraft situation in the aritcle the same way, with deducting a fee from checks cashed over time.
Re: The Real Reason The Poor Go Without Bank Accounts
#6This comment on the article reflects why many people that I have met personally do not have checking accounts or bank accounts. They are worried about having money seized. From the comment section of the article - "If you would really like to know why poor people regular these establishments I'll tell you why: it's because they keep you off the grid. I used to have a checking account too all my life. But after I lost…
I assume this is talking about child support payments ordered during divorce proceedings?
Re: The Real Reason The Poor Go Without Bank Accounts
#7This article validates one my key beefs with "big data" - databases (like chexsystems in the article) remove slack from the system. Humans need slack and only humans can provide slack. In the short term that may seem like a good idea, removing slack appears to increase efficiency. But in the long run it is socially destructive -- we are all people, not just numbers and reducing us to numbers ignores much of the reali…
I remember reading about this in the book "About Face" about interaction design at least 10 years ago. It is a problem good interaction designers already care about. I think it's more a problem of upper management understanding that maintaining some slack can be more important than squeezing every last dollar from every transaction.
Re: The Real Reason The Poor Go Without Bank Accounts
#8It's a tough situation, it has a lot to do with momentum. If these check cashers had profitable local ventures to invest in, they could hold deposits and pay out interest.
Because there isn't a lot going on in the area, a deposit/commercial bank isn't interested in the area and in turn, business people in the area do not have as many local sources of capital.
In place that need it, entrepreneurship would lead to a rise in saving.
Re: The Real Reason The Poor Go Without Bank Accounts
#9So basically the check cashers have become more like banks, and folks who are short on human interaction value that more than the extra couple bucks a monolith that pushes you to an ATM (that may charge you extra for your withdrawal as well) costs. Wonder if any banks will see this as a proper wake up call...
What banks can do is pretty tightly regulated and I wonder if it would be legal for a bank to handle the overdraft situation in the aritcle the same way, with deducting a fee from checks cashed over time.
Banks have significant flexibility. Capital One 360 (the former ING Direct) handles overdrafts by providing a line of credit. The fees there for short term over drafts are a few cents.
Re: The Real Reason The Poor Go Without Bank Accounts
#10This comment on the article reflects why many people that I have met personally do not have checking accounts or bank accounts. They are worried about having money seized. From the comment section of the article - "If you would really like to know why poor people regular these establishments I'll tell you why: it's because they keep you off the grid. I used to have a checking account too all my life. But after I lost…
I assume this is talking about child support payments ordered during divorce proceedings?
Not having any paper trail to attract the attention of people and organizations you owe money to is arguably the only rational reason for being unbanked in an urban area of a developed country.