3 ms·

Not everybody is allowed to have bank accounts.

giantg2 3y ago
But anyone can buy a money order at Walmart or USPS.
anonym29 3y ago
Out of curiosity, who's excluded? I have several close personal friends who are not in the country legally (not US citizens, no SSN, no US state issued driver's license), and banks bend over backwards for them - they have fewer KYC requirements to open accounts than I do, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous about that.
- techsupporter 3y ago
  If you've ever done something to get yourself added to the unholy nightmare that is Chexsystems, you're either excluded (if you are in a metro with a small number of financial institutions) or you have a lot of hoops to go through to get an account. There's no requirement to open a basic functionality demand deposit account, like found in the Eurozone, so it's up to financial institutions to decide who they will and won't accept. For example, there's a credit union near me that advertises second-chance checking accounts. The account costs $7 per month and you have to take a $25 personal finance literacy course (that wasn't offered during the pandemic).
- tadfisher 3y ago
  It might actually be easier for recent immigrants to get an account, because they have no history with ChexSystems, the _de facto_ credit bureau analogue for banking history. When working for a technology company offering retail banking services (in a past life) the #1 reason for denying an account was a negative ChexSystems report. That means the applicant has had checks bounce, held a negative balance for too long, or was suspected of identity theft/fraud (often they were victims, sometimes unknowingly).
- from 3y ago
  - People who've been slandered online or wrongly put into "compliance databases" (https://www.vice.com/en/article/pak7wb/exclusive-secret-blacklist-marking-innocents-as-terrorists-continues-to-grow https://www.vice.com/en/article/pak7wb/exclusive-secret-blac... https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/03/the-dirty-secrets-of-a-smear-campaign https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/03/the-dirty-secr..., https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/HJS-Black-PR-Report-web-2.pdf#page=16 https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/H...) - People with white collar convictions - People who bounced checks in the past or were unwittingly used as money mules and ended up in Chexsystems - Banks closing accounts that interact with crypto exchanges
  - anonym29 3y ago
    Never heard of this before, sounds like it's a real PITA for those who get caught up in it through no fault of their own or from a mistake they made long ago. Thanks for the reading resources!
aeturnum 3y ago
The postal bank - or some other federally run bank - still seems like a very good idea to me.

But anyone can buy a money order at Walmart or USPS.

Out of curiosity, who's excluded? I have several close personal friends who are not in the country legally (not US citizens, no SSN, no US state issued driver's license), and banks bend over backwards for them - they have fewer KYC requirements to open accounts than I do, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous about that.

techsupporter 3y ago
If you've ever done something to get yourself added to the unholy nightmare that is Chexsystems, you're either excluded (if you are in a metro with a small number of financial institutions) or you have a lot of hoops to go through to get an account. There's no requirement to open a basic functionality demand deposit account, like found in the Eurozone, so it's up to financial institutions to decide who they will and won't accept. For example, there's a credit union near me that advertises second-chance checking accounts. The account costs $7 per month and you have to take a $25 personal finance literacy course (that wasn't offered during the pandemic).
tadfisher 3y ago
It might actually be easier for recent immigrants to get an account, because they have no history with ChexSystems, the _de facto_ credit bureau analogue for banking history. When working for a technology company offering retail banking services (in a past life) the #1 reason for denying an account was a negative ChexSystems report. That means the applicant has had checks bounce, held a negative balance for too long, or was suspected of identity theft/fraud (often they were victims, sometimes unknowingly).
from 3y ago
- People who've been slandered online or wrongly put into "compliance databases" (https://www.vice.com/en/article/pak7wb/exclusive-secret-blacklist-marking-innocents-as-terrorists-continues-to-grow https://www.vice.com/en/article/pak7wb/exclusive-secret-blac... https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/03/the-dirty-secrets-of-a-smear-campaign https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/03/the-dirty-secr..., https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/HJS-Black-PR-Report-web-2.pdf#page=16 https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/H...) - People with white collar convictions - People who bounced checks in the past or were unwittingly used as money mules and ended up in Chexsystems - Banks closing accounts that interact with crypto exchanges
- anonym29 3y ago
  Never heard of this before, sounds like it's a real PITA for those who get caught up in it through no fault of their own or from a mistake they made long ago. Thanks for the reading resources!

aeturnum 3y ago

The postal bank - or some other federally run bank - still seems like a very good idea to me.