Why Banking during the Post Office might be a Better Option Than Payday Loans — and Wall Street

Why Banking during the Post Office might be a Better Option Than Payday Loans — and Wall Street

New york postoffice. Picture by John Donges.

The U.S. postoffice on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. is a bastion on its Harlem block. Entrenched beside a pawnshop, a cash-for-gold company, and a commercial bank numerous when you look at the community are not able to utilize, the center is basically a fortress. Filled with heavy stone walls, steel screens, vaults, ATMs, and armored vehicles, the premises evoke one word: protection. In the event that you’ve followed present news, they even recommend a moment term: Bank.

Post workplaces are designed like banking institutions.

And that’s only one good reason why postal banking, a hot concept in financial policy debates, is viable. Real and functional structures already occur that may assist USPS provide basic economic solutions: prepaid debit cards, mobile deals, brand brand new check cashing solutions, cost savings records, as well as easy, small-dollar loans.

“There’s a post office every five obstructs in Manhattan — there’s accessibility in just about every zip rule,” explained Frankie Wright, 32, a USPS Supervisor of Customer Services in East Harlem. “On a operational degree, we’re already capable.”

The concept, popularized by journalist David Dayen and legislation teacher Mehrsa Baradaran, would produce a general general public choice for credit which help insulate Main Street within the most most most likely occasion of some other crisis that is financial. Pokračování textu Why Banking during the Post Office might be a Better Option Than Payday Loans — and Wall Street