Check Cashers Get New Respect

Lakeisha Williams has a bank account. That doesn’t mean she always uses it. The home health aide from West Harlem sometimes can’t wait the few days it takes for her paycheck to clear. So she sacrifices about $20 to a check casher and gets her money immediately. “I ain’t got no problem with check cashers,” Williams says.Check-cashing stores have for years been easy targets for advocates of economic justice, who have argued that the industry provides an expensive service and takes advantage of people who can ill afford it.