pickWe're too tied up in shame to realize it's not our doing, it's that the resources, safety net, and lack of borrowing options leave people making the best of garbage situations. I appreciate the fact that the author worked at both a payday loan and a check cashing place to learn first-hand why more and more people are turning to these financial alternatives. It's not personal or moral failure, it's the deep decline of livable wages.
pickI flew through this book that explores how and why a great number of Americans don't use traditional banks in favor of alternative financial services. I especially liked reading about the author's field work at check cashing and payday loan businesses.
so-soThis book tries to do for banking what Nickel and Dimed did for the working poor or Evicted did for housing except this one fell a little flat. It's informative, well researched, mostly unbiased, and exploratory but focused slightly more on policy than consumers. I wish she'd spent time living as an unbanked person using the services as well as working at a few places and interviewing people. This would've provided a more well rounded picture.
pickVery interesting look at how traditional banking fails normal people and what is filling in that gap.#financialreads
I am chronically unable to stick with one book #snowday
Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives | 
