Could the Post Office Become Your Next Bank?

Poor Man Survival
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“The international monetary system has already collapsed three times within the last 100 years–1914, 1939, and 1971–and another collapse would not be at all unusual.”

Why Banking at the Post Office Could Be a Better Option Than Payday Loans—and Wall Street

Several years ago while visiting Europe I discovered it was a common practice in Germany and Austria for citizens to use their post office for mini-banking services. Funding options were limited and unlike the US where you must have tons of ID, it was easy to open such accounts…

USPS used to offer financial services. Proponents say that bringing them back could buffer us from financial meltdowns and alleviate poverty. Here’s why it just might work.

The U.S. post office on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. is a bastion on its Harlem block. Entrenched beside a pawnshop, a cash-for-gold business, and a commercial bank many in the neighborhood are unable to use, the facility is essentially a fortress. Complete with heavy brick walls, steel screens, vaults, ATMs, and armored trucks, the premises evoke one word: Security. If you’ve followed recent news, they also suggest a second word: Bank.

Post offices are built like banks.

And that’s just one reason why postal banking, a hot idea in economic policy debates, is viable. Physical and operational structures already exist that could help USPS offer basic financial services: prepaid debit cards, mobile transactions, new check cashing services, savings accounts, and even simple, small-dollar loans.

“There’s a post office every five blocks in Manhattan—there’s accessibility in every zip code,” explained Frankie Wright, 32, a USPS Supervisor of Customer Services in East Harlem. “On an operational level, we’re already capable.”

Very few Americans today remember what it was like to live through our last currency crisis… in the 1970s. Mortgage rates at the time, if I recall, were around 16%. [Indeed, I used a lot of creative financing to purchase properties during that time frame].

During a five-year period, the U.S. dollar lost 50% of its value and inflation jumped 50%. The stock market fell 40% in just 18 months.

Unemployment was over 10%, and the Federal government got so desperate, they issued “Carter Bonds”… U.S. bonds denominated in Swiss francs, since no one trusted the value of the dollar.

I mention all this to remind folks at how easily things can go south and why it is a good idea to have alternatives and backup plans in place…Read more here:

http://poormansurvivorblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/why-post-office-might-become-your-bank.html