banking

CityViews: Check-Cashing Industry Takes Issue With our Reporting on the Un-Banked

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The article “Why are so Many New Yorkers Still Under-Banked” (01/06/17) should have been titled “How to Disseminate Misinformation about an Entire Industry and Get Away With It.” The article has an aura of accuracy, without understanding the nuances of the subject, the financial climate pertaining to the issue, and the consumers that the article claims to speak on behalf of. It is terribly wrong and misguided to lump and compare pawnshops, which are businesses with very little regulatory oversight (and which offer loans against items of value), with the check cashing industry – which has been since its statutory creation in 1944 one of the most highly regulated financial industries in the State of New York. In fact, New York’s check cashing industry is not involved in loans. Where pawnbrokers are allowed to charge monthly rates of up to 25% and an additional service charge of 20%, check cashers are only allowed to charge a strictly enforced fee of 2.01% per check cashing transaction, as dictated by law.