The Alternative: Postal Banking

Experts have advocated for postal banking, which would essentially turn the US Postal Service into a place that would also offer basic banking services like checking accounts, savings accounts, and payments. The idea is that it would reach and serve as an option for the unbanked and offer lower-cost options for transactions than private banks, such as low-fee ATMs and check cashing. 

Postal banking has been proposed on Capitol Hill, but thus far, it hasn’t gotten very far legislatively.

• Banking fees are associated with access to the payments system and all of the products and services that come along with that.
• Some people in the banking industry say that measures such as overdraft fees are meant to deter customers from overspending.
• In the past, banks have ...