3 ms·
Homeless people are often unbanked, and it's very difficult to open a new account without a credit score and permanent address. Recent immigrants have difficul
by replicanteven 4y ago
Homeless people are often unbanked, and it's very difficult to open a new account without a credit score and permanent address.
Recent immigrants have difficulty opening accounts for a similar reason - only US credit counts. Political activists are also often denied accounts out of an abundance of caution on the bank's part, e.g. with the Occupy Wall St protests.
- NoZebra120vClip 4y agoThe hurdles you mention are nothing compared to lack of ID. Lack of ID is the #1 obstacle to homeless people, especially anyone on the street whose stuff is regularly lost or stolen. Especially if someone is from out-of-state, good luck rebuilding that cache of ID again. It requires nominal payments and some sort of starting point of documentation. Sometimes it's chicken-and-egg with the DMV. The first step usually involves procuring a birth certificate from the correct jurisdiction. Good luck if you're an immigrant from, say, a small village in Latin America. There are whole services and ministries that help people with obtaining ID. I really appreciated that fact. If you're an addict or mentally ill or raised in poverty or abuse, you're gonna have trouble calmly navigating bureaucracies, for sure. It helps to have a tour guide alongside who can coach you through it.