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Lessons From Postal Banking's Past

posted by Pamela Foohey

Post OfficeMehrsa Baradaran (University of Georgia) has a short piece in Slate tracing the history of the U.S. Postal Banking system. In sum, post offices once were banks, the system was in place for over 50 years, and post offices can be banks again. Indeed, at its height, the postal banking system was used by millions of Americans. Then banks moved into the majority of cities and towns and offered customers a more attractive option than using postal savings depositories. But when these banks began leaving low-income neighborhoods in the 1970s, the postal banking system already had died a quiet death, leaving the market open to payday lenders and check cashing operations. As Adam pointed out in his op-ed in American Banker from earlier this year, and as Mehrsa's piece highlights, postal banking may be the key to the current lack of financial inclusion. The piece is a quick and interesting read.

Post office building image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Comments

In the UK, post-offices have become more and more bank-like in the last decade or two.You can open an account (though it's actually with Bank of Ireland), withdraw or deposit money from it, change money, collect benefits, cash cheques and so on.

Oh and of course, in Japan, the Post Office had more deposits than any other bank in the world until recently.

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