Bank Accounts Aren't "the Devil"

One reason why most Americans (and by extension, our government) have money issues:

As many as 28 million people in the United States are forgoing traditional financial institutions because of mistrust, cultural and language barriers or a belief that by the time all the bills are paid there will be nothing left for an account.That can be expensive and risky. People can run up big fees to cash checks, pay bills and meet their other financial needs. Walking around with large amounts of cash can make them a target for thieves...

...A Consumer Federation of America survey of check-cashing outlets, found that on average it cost $24.45 to cash a $1,002 Social Security check last year. A blue-collar worker pays an average $19.66 every week to cash a $478.41 handwritten paper check.

Of course, it is not entirely their fault:

Nationwide, there are fewer banks in poor neighborhoods versus wealthy ones but the difference is small, according to the Federal Reserve.

In some neighborhoods, however, there are no banks conveniently located. Federal banking regulators just weeks ago identified 3,500 middle-income neighborhoods in rural areas - from parts of Clarke, Ala., to parts of Washakie, Wyo. - that they consider to be underserved by financial institutions.

Nevertheless, there are people who don't need to use the lack of close banks as an excuse:

Federal Reserve research found that the most common reason families gave for not having checking accounts was that they did not write enough checks to make it worthwhile. Many people said they did not like dealing with banks.

I guess the biggest concern here is how this practice of not using banks has fueled crime:

In Prince William County, Va., there were 351 robberies last year and more than 40 percent involved Hispanic victims - many of whom were new to the country - who had large amounts of cash on them, says Police Chief Charlie Deane. Many of the robberies occurred on paydays - Thursday or Fridays.

"The criminal element is aware that many of these people do not put their money in a bank," Deane says. "Many of these individuals are living in conditions where they have to share common space, so they often don't have ways of securing their cash where they live. So therefore they carry the cash with them," he says.

When the concept of forming a bank first arose, the big fear was that if something happened and everyone needed/wanted to get their money back, the banks wouldn't be able to sustain such a rush (let alone the then-fragile economy). While it seems that we've gotten over that fear (for the most part), the next phase is convincing millions of Americans that having a bank account can be a good thing.