Reply #53: Not everybody can get a debit card

[d_r]

They do a credit check before you can open a checking account.

When I got out of grad school and got my first job they wouldn't give me one because I had bad credit score from student loans coming due before the school sent out the deferment forms. It had happened two or three times so they showed as late payments, and I didn't have a lot of other credit history so bam I had a low score. I was a brand new faculty member at a big 10 university, and I had went to the credit union for the university, because that seemed like the thing to do. The lady took my information and went to run the credit score. I'll never forget, she came back and said "you are a new employee of the university?" I said "yes" she said "are you coded as staff or laborer?" Then she took back the ATM card that she had already given me. I said I can't even have an ATM card? And she said that I couldn't with my credit score, because even an ATM card that didn't have the debit card on it would be like giving me little loans every time I used the ATM.

Not everybody can even have a checking account. Why do you think they have check cashing places? (Not just pay-day advance, but check cashing). Why do you think some folks pay with money orders?