wait til they learn of all the "fees" the debit card comes with. Just another poverty tax.

That's what I use, and what everyone in my family used.

Opening up an account is free with most banks.

...is if they use it to withdraw from an ATM (if the bank's ATM charges fees) more than once between payment disbursement. T

Gotta get with the times.

in some areas in states, there are no banks and people go to check-cashing places to cash them. In some cases, if they go with a debit card, some may have a fee and/or will limit how much cash can be taken out per day.

The last 30 years of my 43-year career were paperless. I wasn't given a choice. I'm not sure that I'd even know what to do with a paper check nowadays.

(and probably have been for years) ... from friends, family, caretakers, banks and check cashing facilities ...
But most especially kids and grandchildren - who are consistently telling their loved one, "Granddad - it's just plain stupid!"

( there's familiarity and force of habit .... and then there's just pig-headed nonsense! )

so you might get Ernestine, who was hired to crack the whip and speed things up!

In 2021, there were fewer than 4,000 telephone operators, down from a peak of around 420,000 in the 1970s, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Joe Biden tried to change it, and he tried to bring high-speed internet out to the Boonies.

miles away from my primary bank. I established an account in 1986 and have moved 4 times since. I have my pensions, SS, and dividends direct deposited and take out cash at local stores when I make purchases with a debit card.
I will continue to use that bank even in Costa Rica, minus getting cash back.

that are not only "food deserts" with no supermarket, but "bank deserts", with no banks whatsoever, and what little financial-related businesses that they may have access to are check-cashing places that are almost usurious, but they will take the check and cash it.

Their source of groceries end up being small corner stores that sell limited perishable food (maybe bread, milk, eggs) as well as canned goods, dry foodstuffs like rice, beans, pasta, etc, that are often "cash only" because thieves come in and put "skimmers" on their debit/credit terminals to steal the card info.

In fact, for a number of those little stores that did have full ATM machines, what has unfortunately happens is this -

So you also have owners of those little stores either with a machine out of order or none at all due to idiots trying to blow open the machine to get the money out. I remember one instance where some perps broke into a little store next to one that was secured with one of those metal gates over the windows/door that had an ATM, and they literally blew away the wall in the adjoining store to get into the store with the ATM so they could take the machine out.

Hell - 2 banks near me had exterior ATMs blown up and they had to put the replacement ones inside.

Blowing up ATMs is a "thing". And robbing armored trucks is too, as there is a spate of those here happening in NE Philly in the past couple weeks.

And they may not be able to learn new things. Hopefully nobody gets lost in the process of this change. I'm sure the Trump administration would not be bothered if a few people wound up not being paid.

Has a trustworthy relative or neighbor who is able and willing to help them navigate the online world. I have an elderly relative who struggles with a phone or any electronic device. She does paper everything except what our family helps her with, but she is resistant and fearful of things that many of us think of as simple, everyday things and also struggles with accepting help because she wants to be independent. There is no ability of learning tech stuff for her, even losing some knowledge she had before, like the cell phone getting more difficult for her. It’s not done on purpose, it just is what is is for many older people. The “get with the times” attitude that many have is both unrealistic and hurtful.

https://www.usdirectexpress.com/faq.html

Looks like the only thing that might incur a fee is use of an ATM, and that would apparently only occur if you do a cash withdrawal more than once between pay disbursement.

because Direct Express would have to hire somebody(s) 24/7 to manually slide the cash through the ATM slot? And do they have monetary limits as to that cash withdrawal?
No justification for the charges except to steal money from senior citizens.

ALWAYS A SCAM. Way to look out for Americans.

switched to electronic deposit only decades ago.

Paychecks used to be handed out on Fridays, then they were mailed, then they were transitioned to all direct deposit. I held out with paper checks for years until my check mistakenly got put in a neighbor's mailbox and they tried to cash it. Fortunately the check cashing place was suspicious and confiscated the check. Been direct deposit ever since.

where he would put the checks and would hand them out every other Friday. The secretary had the envelopes with printed copies of the paystubs (leave and earnings statement). The bank I used had a branch a block away from the office so at lunch, I would walk to it and deposit. A few years later, they closed that bank branch and I ended up walking about 4 blocks to another one.

Maybe for some, But most of these people probably go to a bank to cash the check anyway so what's the difference? I remember years ago more than once being handed a paper paycheck out in the rain on payday and hoping it wouldn't just melt in my wallet till I could get it to the bank. Trouble was the job didn't end till 5:00 and the banks were all closed then. The married guy's could get the wife to take it but guy's like me had to get someone else to or cash it that night at one of a couple of bars in town that kept enough cash on hand (200,000 on hand I learned later) to handle payroll checks, Not always a good Idea to be handed several hundred cash over the bar with other patrons looking on, ( early eighties, a few hundred was something) and Heh Heh, It tended to keep you at the bar later than you intended most times :

They do more of the (paper) forms and bound versions of the regulations, etc.

I believe Dept. of Treasury handles checks because that is where the money is technically coming from ( "the Treasury" ), and would do so for various Departments/agencies (e.g., HHS, OPM, the VA, etc.).

came from the GPO. I guess at that time they were the only group that had the actual check material, kind ok like only the U.S. Mint can print money as they are the only ones with the actual paper.

But you are correct that all checks are now done by the U.S. Treasury.

from back when it was still called the "Veterans Administration" before it became a Department), where he was in our local (Philly) COBOL programmers group who programmed the calculations for the distribution of Veteran's Benefits, which included the montly checks. I don't think they printed those (although they had plenty of tree killing with the punch cards and endless printouts ). I believe Treasury did that once the info was transmitted (through one of their offices).

nt

Most banks will not cash checks if you do not have a account, and if you are able to open a account you must maintain a certain amount in the account in order to avoid the fees associated with a low balance. The debt card is an option if the card could be used without having to pay ATM fees .

A friend was in that situation and had to cash his Social Security check at a check cashing place becuase if he opened an account it would be seized and he would have no money to eat.

or even have the card reader. There are urban areas, as I posted upthread, that have their card readers end up with criminals attaching skimmers on them or stores end up with their ATM machines blown up (and who knows how long it might take for them to get a replacement) - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3497548

…and no sarcasm, serious question, what do people do now when they get their checks id they don’t have a bank account? I get that they might go to a check cashing place to cash it, but then what? How do they pay their bills? Are they all getting money orders to mail off?

And the debit cards don’t have to be used at an ATM, they can get cash back when they buy something.

As you note - they "go to a check cashing place to cash it". It is EXACTLY what they do. There are NO banks in their neighborhood. But these same neighborhoods will have little check-cashing places every couple blocks (along with the pawn shops, that I noticed are making a come-back).



They LITERALLY go to the utility company, all of which have offices around the city, and pay IN CASH. When they get their electric bill in the mail, once a month they will hop on a bus or trolley and go into the electric company's retail/customer location, and hand them the cash to pay the bill and get a receipt. There are cashiers there just for that purpose. Same with the gas company and the same even applies to the cable company (I know whenever I had to go to a Comcast outlet - for example, to return cable equipment, there would be a CSR there for people who were paying their bills and they were doing so with cash.

Many people in these neighborhoods are also renting (whether an apartment or a house), so they pay their landlord IN CASH.



As I said - they don't have any supermarkets or pharmacies in these poorer neighborhoods. That is why you see people use the term "food desert". It's the very definition of it. They rely on the "convenience stores" or Dollar Stores for food and household goods and any that do take credit cards, continually have the problem of the skimmers (which are also often stuck on self-serve gas station pump card readers) and the blown-up ATM machines.

Looking at your user name, I would tell you that these folks are the BOTTOM of the 99%. People complain about why they eat at so many fast food restaurants - it's because "it's lunch" or "it's dinner" and whether a chain or one of the local food shops, they take (and often require) "cash" and are just about all that is available outside of being able to have access to a food pantry (and those are about to be completely wiped out with all the federal funding cuts).

ETA - this is a typical check-cashing place (there are also chains of them) - this one in the Kensington neighborhood in Philly by the El -



It's next door to a "mini market" that has groceries. They cash the checks, and in some cases, they can actually pay utility bills in those places, then buy some stuff in the mini-market, and then hop on public transit (or walk) back home.

They did that 20 years ago.