Had an idea for a way to put "check cashing" shops out of business. Looking for feedback. [View all]

[Ken Burch]

People who go to check-cashing shops(where they cash your check in exchange for a significant percentage of the check) are pretty much the poor. They go to such places usually because, due to their economic situation(and since they often also have horrible credit ratings) they are unable to set up checking or savings accounts at most banks. If they are unemployed, they usually aren't going to have the option of joining a credit union(since most of those are tied to not only having jobs but being in a particular line of work, such as government employment)

I was thinking that what might be a solution would be for the feds to set up something like a national People''s Credit Union, in which anybody who wanted to set up an account, including anyone receiving unemployment compensation or Social Security or disability payments, or anyone in low-paying jobs who had debts they were trying to repay but were unable to repay due to the hard economic realities of their lives.

This would create a non-predatory alternative to the check-cashing industry, which would significantly reduce the number of people feeling obligated to use "payday loan" shops(since they would now be able to keep the entire amount of any checks they receive, thus having slightly more funds at hand), would potentially help a large number of people at least begin to move away from poverty, and, since credit unions, as opposed to banks, make many decisions based on the votes of anyone who shows up at membership meetings, would begin the process of democratizing our financial system and turning the use of its assets in a more community-minded and humanistic direction.

What do people here think of this as a general concept? Anyone have suggestions for refining the idea?

Have their been other people talking about anything like this?

Also, if there are threads on DU where people are talking about something along these lines, could somebody point me towards them?

Thanks.