[masraum]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

There is a HUGE demographic out there who don't have checking accounts. Have you ever wondered why there are so many check cashing stores in low-income areas? Those folks don't pay federal income taxes anyway, so the IRS doesn't have their banking info. When the gov't. gives them money, they get paper checks or pre-loaded debit cards. The ones on SSDI or SS have a "Direct Express" debit card. Those folks often line up at the bank minutes before the doors open on the day their SS money is loaded onto the card, they withdraw it all in cash and then live on cash and pay bills with money orders. I deal with this crowd every single day. Without exception, the ones who have or had checking accounts have stories about how they were hacked and cleaned out and thus had to change accounts or just gave up on banks altogether. In the last few weeks I have run into plenty who did not get (but really, really needed) that $600 stimulus because they had changed banking info since the last time they got a gov't. check.

In certain demographics, that wouldn't surprise me.

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I was stunned when I first learned this. I wanted to pay a guy who worked part time for me with a check. He had no idea what to do with it. He is about 30 years old. His full time job is at a fairly large factory - not a fly by night outfit by any means. His employer pays workers by depositing their wages in a WalMart bank account. He pays for everything with a WalMart card.

But in others, it seems really odd to me.