The unbanking of America : how the new middle class survives

An urgent, absorbing exposé—why Americans are fleeing our broken banking system in growing numbers, and how alternatives are rushing in to do what banks once did. What do an undocumented immigrant in the South Bronx, a high‐net‐worth entrepreneur, and a twenty‐something graduate student have in common? All three are victims of our dysfunctional mainstream bank and credit system. Today nearly half of all Americans live from paycheck to paycheck, and income volatility has doubled over the past thirty years. Banks, with their high monthly fees and overdraft charges, are gouging their low- and middle-income customers, while serving only the wealthiest Americans. Lisa Servon delivers a stunning indictment of America’s banks, together with eye-opening dispatches from inside a range of banking alternatives that have sprung up to fill the void. She works as a teller at RiteCheck, a check‐cashing business in the South Bronx, and as a payday lender in Oakland. She looks closely at the workings of a tanda , an informal lending club. And she delivers fascinating, hopeful portraits of the entrepreneurs reacting to the unbanking of America by designing systems to creatively serve many of us. Banks were once essential pillars of our lives; now we can no longer count on them to do right by us. An urgent and incisive exposé of our broken banking system—why Americans are fleeing traditional banks in growing numbers What do an undocumented immigrant in the South Bronx, a high-net-worth entrepreneur, and a twenty-something graduate student have in common? All three are victims of our dysfunctional mainstream bank and credit system. The Unbanking of America exposes the ways in which banks have quietly abandoned lower- and middle-class consumers in favor of servicing only the wealthiest. Today nearly half of all Americans live paycheck to paycheck, as income volatility has doubled over the past thirty years. Banks, with their monthly fees and high overdraft charges, take advantage of these fluctuations rather than help their customers manage them. Lisa Servon delivers provocative dispatches from inside a range of banking alternatives—from predatory to responsible—as new players rush in to do what banks once did. She works... Discusses The Problems With American Banking And Investigates Such Informal Banking Alternatives As Check-cashing Businesses, Payday Lenders, And Lending Clubs. We're All Underbanked -- Where Everybody Knows Your Name -- Bankonomics, Or How Banking Changed And Most Of Us Lost Out -- The New Middle Class -- The Credit Trap: Bad Debt And Real Life -- Payday Loans: Making The Best Of Poor Options -- Living In The Minus: The Millennial Perspective -- Borrowing And Saving Under The Radar -- Inside The Innovators -- Rejecting The New Normal. Lisa Servon. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 191-240) And Index.