Why can't they open an online checking account like Ally which will allow them to deposit a photo of their check free of charge? My understanding is a lot of low-income folks have smartphones as desktop replacements. Is this not a strictly better solution than anything in crypto?

I'm also open to postal banking as a solution to this problem, but I'm not really clear on where the system is actually currently failing folks who have money. Are they banned by ChexSystems or something?

I get it, "Bank the Unbanked!" is a compelling narrative, but folks seem not to be asking the relevant questions: (1) who are the unbanked exactly and (2) why aren't they banked - specifically - when there's a ton of banks out there, a bunch of which charge nothing.

Many banks, both historically and presently, have pervasive and capricious fees that disproportionately impact people with less money. Both because those fees are large relative to the amount of money they have, and because those fees arise in situations more likely to occur with less money (e.g. overdraft fees, policies that intentionally do withdrawals before deposits to cause overdraft fees, minimum balances, ATM fees, and many others).

And furthermore, the institutions more likely to be friendlier to customers with less money are sometimes also institutions on a smaller scale that may have a harder time offering some of the services of larger institutions (e.g. branch/ATM locations, compelling variety of credit and account instruments, investment arms, better online banking experiences).

To the extent this is changing, it also has to change in people's perceptions, in a fashion that makes it easier to predict and feel confident in.

> Why can't they open an online checking account like Ally which will allow them to deposit a photo of their check free of charge?

You have an incredible amount of optimism for both Ally's marketing department and also rural internet. Furthermore, this doesn't solve the cash problem unless you want to pay upwards of $5 just to pull out of an ATM.

> folks seem not to be asking the relevant questions

This is an incredibly well researched situation affecting a lot of americans. You not knowing isn't the same as this not being well understood.

This sounds like parts of the US has a problem with checks and a lack of good, digital bank services.

I can transfer money and pay my bills with my phone. I can even transfer money to people not having the same bank as I have. I did it today, it took 30s or so and the recipient could immediately see the money on her phone. Where I live we also tend to use cards a LOT. I can pay in almost any store with my debit card and the money is drawn from my bank account right away. It was decades since I've saw a check.

That's a long winded way of saying that you live in New York.