Usually viewed as predatory, the check cashing industry is booming. Lisa Servon wondered why people that are lower-income had been struggling would cash checks as opposed to obtaining a bank-account, therefore she took employment being a cashier to discover. Exactly exactly exactly What she discovered — so it’s usually cheaper — could be the topic of her book that is new,The Unbanking of America.” Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.
HARI SREENIVASAN:
Next: you may need some cash real fast?
Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores why, for many clients, the bet that is best may possibly not be the lender.
It is section of their series that is weekly making of economic news.
JOE COLEMAN, President, RiteCheck:
And also this is East 138th Street, which in several ways could be the Wall Street of this Bronx. You’ve gotten great deal of economic companies over the road, bodegas. You have got tiny cash remitters.
PAUL SOLMAN:
And there is a pawn shop, perhaps maybe perhaps not the sort of financier you’d find in the Wall that is actual Street. But, hey, this is actually the Southern Bronx, poorest congressional region in America, where some 40 per cent of residents reside underneath the poverty line.
JOE COLEMAN:
The service that is main regarding the road is RiteCheck, where we now have our monetary solution center.
PAUL SOLMAN:
Joe Coleman is president of the string of 14 shops when you look at the Southern Bronx and Harlem. They’ll cash your checks, spend your bills, transfer cash twenty four hours a time, 365 times per year. Something similar to half these customers are unbanked, meaning they usually have no bank account on function.
Jose Benitez is a construction specialist.
JOSE BENITEZ, (through interpreter):
Each time you head to a bank, there is an issue. You lose time.
PAUL SOLMAN:
The lender takes too much time to cash checks, he claims. 继续阅读“The logic that is surprising the utilization of check cashers and payday advances”