A Bill to provide basic banking services in every post office is being introduced by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. The Huffington Post reports that the goal of the bill is to provide banking services for working-class and low-income individuals who cannot afford, or lack access to commercial banking. Postal banks would provide low cost loans, thus replacing high interest loans such as payday loans and title loans. The Congressional Budget Office will be asked to provide an estimate of the cost of starting up this program. The bill would make post offices a place where customers could deposit checks, create savings accounts, and provide low cost loans.
For decades the Post Office provided these services, but discontinued them in the 1960’s.
AUSPL Conference attendees in 2016 heard Professor Mehrsa Baradaran, author of How The Other Half Banks speak on this topic at the Atlanta conference.