These are important issues. High on the list is the plight of the unbanked and underbanked. Fifteen percent do not have a checking account. That's simply unacceptable. There was a time when the decision to operate in the cash economy and to dispense with banks could be defended as involving a reasonable trade-off of costs and benefits.
Bank branches are frequently fewer and farther between in the communities where they live.
Nonbank check-cashers have often moved into such neighborhoods, offering services that are more expensive than those offered by banks. But the traditional economy is fast becoming yesterday's economy. And, as this technological transformation continues to work its way throughout our society, the inaccessibility of traditional depositories becomes increasingly burdensome and harder to justify. Already, it is virtually impossible to rent a car, buy a plane ticket, or even rent the latest Hollywood release from the video shop without a credit card. The point is that the costs of being unbanked are not borne exclusively by the unbanked themselves.