Unbanking of America
by Lisa Servon · first published 2017
8mentions
3recommended by
6HN commenters
2017–2024first – last mentioned
50% recommend33% neutral17% critical
1 online resource (xix, 250 pages)
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The stereotype of check cashing places as loan-shark-esque is generally wrong - I recommend reading The Unbanking of America by Lisa Servon to get a real understanding of the industry. For a poor person, a check-cashing place is generally the cheapest and most straightforward way to cash checks (and receive other basic financial…
on “USPS Begins Postal Banking Pilot Program” ↗…other way of getting their checks cashed. This has been studied - they would pay more (and in much less transparent fashion via a series of fees) if they went to actual banks. I recommend reading The Unbanking of America by Lisa Servon to get a real understanding of the industry.
on “USPS Begins Postal Banking Pilot Program” ↗Also recommend "The Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives" by Lisa Servon on the topic. https://www.npr.org/2017/01/10/509126878/what-is-driving-the... https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9781328745705
on “The business of check cashing” ↗the Unbanking of America - the author does a deep dive and recounts first hand experiences of lower income Americans dealing with banks. I would say this is required reading for anyone interested in Fintech/neobanks that target…
on “Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?” ↗I'll also add that it's great they're able to exist, as a large portion of their customers are actually banned from traditional banks. A great resource/read for learning about the "unbanked" is "The Unbanking of America".
on “Neobanking: The Golden Opportunity” ↗…the conventional wisdom goes, tend to make bad financial decisions. Lisa Servon, a University of Pennsylvania professor of city and regional planning, offers a different angle in her recent book, The Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives. During Servon’s research working as a teller at a check casher and payday lender, consumers told her that the fee structures of nonbank alternatives were more transparent…
on “Walmart's effort to get customers to build up their savings accounts” ↗…the conventional wisdom goes, tend to make bad financial decisions. Lisa Servon, a University of Pennsylvania professor of city and regional planning, offers a different angle in her recent book, The Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives. During Servon’s research working as a teller at a check casher and payday lender, consumers told her that the fee structures of nonbank alternatives were more transparent…
on “Walmart's effort to get customers to build up their savings accounts” ↗I've read many a book (recently, "The Unbanking of America," which was recommended by another commenter on HN, or "Veils of Distortion") where the author did not have nearly enough material for a book, but perhaps had enough material for a New Yorker article.…
on “A great organic-food fraud” ↗