Where do you bank? You’d think most of us would probably have no hesitation answering that question.
The reality is many people don’t have or have never had a bank account to their name. It’s a growing problem nationally, affecting more than 20 percent of people.
But now the post office is pushing for their locations to have banking as an option for customers. They believe it will help with the more than a quarter of Cleveland households unbanked, meaning they do not use or have access to banks at all, while also keeping their struggle business a float.
“You’ll have post offices increase services that could give back to the community,” said Daleo Freeman, Cleveland President of the American Postal Workers Union.
A group representing postal workers seeks to add finance to their resumes. It's all an effort to combat the plight of banking deserts.
“You go to different communities and you find that there are no banks essentially…it’s a big problem,” said Freeman.
Leaders say too often people get sucked into using Pay day loan and check cashing spots as their bank, a very slippery slope.
“When you charge somebody almost 300 percent on their dollar, we feel that they’re taking advantage of people,” Freeman noted. “But what we wanted to do is reach out to people that have experienced this never ending cycle.”
Like Crystal Durham.
“I’ve been muscled, taking advantage of, hoodwinked, bamboozled, that type of thing.”
She found herself at the mercy of one recently, to help out a family member.
“If I didn’t have my job, or I didn’t have other family members basically stood up for me, and stepped up to help me out, I would have been at a loss or despair,” she said.
The postal workers group claims they can offer people like a way out, with minimal banking options like cashing checks, fund transfers and pre-paid cards at a free or lost cost rate.
“There are banking deserts, but there are not postal desserts in these communities,” Durham said.
“We’re pretty positive that we’ll have or confident that we’ll have a good, good, result,” Freeman said.
Tonight at 6, the postal group pushing the effort will hold a public hearing on the topic. The ultimate goal is to petition the post master general to allow banking to be offered. Cleveland is just one of five other cities nationally taking part in this effort.
