MONEY.

An Ongoing Discussion...

words.

"It’s easy to forget that cash is costly to access, until you’re paying an A.T.M. fee or spending time riding a bus to a check-cashing window when you could have been working. Now, a study published on Monday morning has quantified the cost of cash, and who gets hit the hardest. The unsurprising answer: low-income people.

...The reason for the difference is that wealthier people and lower-income people tend to access cash differently. Wealthier people are more likely to have bank accounts, which means that they can visit an A.T.M. run by their bank without paying a fee; the same goes for cashing checks. Lower-income people, meanwhile, disproportionately use check-cashing services, which are known for their high add-on charges. Plus, employers have started compensating low-paid, hourly workers with prepaid cards that come with huge fees.

All this matters because it adds up to another way in which lower-income people are at a disadvantage when they can’t, or don’t, access the basic financial services that many wealthier people take for granted..."

THE NEW YORKER: The Cost of Cash, for the Rich and the Poor