Ah, the perfect indicator of whether or not a neighborhood has a certain amount of sketchiness....

The setting becomes near-perfect when there's a pawn shop in the same block.

There used to be a combination pawnshop/dive bar here in Cleveland.  Trouble, eh?

 

Yeah, I hate these check cashing places.  They take advantage of poor people with few options and dig them even deeper into their financial holes.  They are leaches and should be run out of town.

As predatory as check cashing places are, no one forces anyone to patronize them.  Most every bank has some sort of no-fee, no-minimum checking account.  If you need a payday loan, it's not that you're poor--it's that you're poor AND living beyond your means.

 

I don't want to sound like a total jerk, but if the market for these places didn't exist, they wouldn't be in business.  What did poor people do prior to the spawning of these ripoff artists?  Maybe they could go back to that.

I guess I should cash my checks elsewhere.  I always wondered why the check I wrote was for more money than I recieved...

As predatory as check cashing places are, no one forces anyone to patronize them.  Most every bank has some sort of no-fee, no-minimum checking account.  If you need a payday loan, it's not that you're poor--it's that you're poor AND living beyond your means.

 

 

I know a middle-class guy who has used one of these places for a payday loan.  He made a decent salary, yet he was broke from buying expensive computer equipment, DVDs, took several trips, etc. 

I'm not totally against them being around, I can see why they can be of service to some people in urgent needs, but that doesn't mean I am crazy about them. Why do they always have to have bright colored slezy looking signs filled with dollar signs? I guess I don't like them for the same reasons I don't like casinos.

 

Anyway, in Hamilton, they turned an already terrible looking surburban drive through KFC into a check-into-cash and it is the armpit of that commercial district. It looks 20x worse than monte's pic.

Some of them offer tax preparation, too, with "Instant Refund."

inkaelin, can you get a pic of that place and post it?  It might find a good home at www.notfoolinganybody.com

 

Ironically, I have also seen a KFC (and a relatively new one at that) converted into a check cashing place in Raleigh, NC.  I guess Bojangles ran 'em into the ground.

 

 

^ Oh thank you so much for humoring me with that great site DaninDC.  Great stuff!

"Most every bank has some sort of no-fee, no-minimum checking account.  If you need a payday loan, it's not that you're poor--it's that you're poor AND living beyond your means. I don't want to sound like a total jerk..."

 

Not a total jerk, but definitely a sanctimonious one  :roll: Don't get me wrong - some of the people use these places because they lack self-control and discipline over their finances. But other people have a different story. Perhaps the people who patronize these places (which I agree, are ripoff artists) have had prior financial issues and are trying to rebuild their financial standing. Why can't they walk into any bank and sign up for the minimum/free accounts you mention? It's because their financial history counts against them, particularly if they had an incident which was reported to ChexSystems.

 

That said, you're naive to think that the minimum/free accounts are available and/or accessible to people who are in such situations. As much as I loathe certain aspects of Key, they were the first in the nation to specifically target that demographic. KeyBank Plus was developed as an alternative to check-cashing ripoffs as well as a resource to provide low-income people with basic financial skills. When you have generations of people growing up in poverty, basic financial knowledge is usually lacking. While they do make a small profit off check cashing services, they aren't gouging like the other places. Unlike most banks, they're also willing to work with people who have less-than-desirable credit and more importantly, steer them in the right direction.

 

I strongly urge you to read this press release to get an idea of what's involved here. For example, one in seven households in Cleveland have NO banking relationship (even a simple checking account) at ALL. http://www.snl.com/Interactive/IR/file.asp?IID=100334&FID=1407785&OSID=9

I should get a photo of the one on Hamilton Ave. in the area of Waycross.  The check-cashing place there is a former Burger King.

The check cashing places are loan sharks, and they don't even take trouble to disguise themselves very well. They entice people to go into debt, and structure their fees and services so that it's very easy for someone to get in over his head and end up paying outrageous amounts for a short-term loan.

 

Some people have a real need for occasional short-term credit, and not all urban areas have programs like Key Bank's. The check cashers target their appeal toward people who don't understand loans and interest rates and make themselves sound like an easy solution to an immediate problem. The places should be burned to the ground and their owners should be ground into dog food. :whip:

 

I guess I feel strongly about that.

I think a lot of Illegal aliens use them to actually cash their paychecks.  Since they are illegal, they can't leave a bank paper trail...or get an account without documents.  They seem to be everywhere these days no matter how sketchy or not the neighborhood is.

I should get a photo of the one on Hamilton Ave. in the area of Waycross.  The check-cashing place there is a former Burger King.

There's a former Burger King here in Akron that was recently converted to one of these places.  They painted the building bright yellow and purple, hideous!! (I'll try to get a pic after the holidays). 

 

The neighborhood it's in has been sprouting these places like weeds in the last few years.  I just love how they've conveniently located themselves in a neighborhood which is home to several senior housing developments. :evil:

I don't think these places are  indicative to a persons or neighborhoods financial or social status. 

 

These "businesses" also provide a place to pay bills so individuals in the neighborhood don't have to travel out of their way to pay a bill or when businesses are closed; bills need to be paid in cash-in person or emergencies.

 

There are 7 of these in a three block radius of my home in Harlem and are patronized by all types of people. 

 

I never knew how valueable the check cashing joint three blocks away was UNTIL I had a light weight situation.  I had been traveling for almost two months but not to NYC and I lost my bank card that I use to pays the bills in NYC.  I had paid the current months bill and when the "automatic" payments to the lost card for the next two Month's was rejected my electricity was cut off. (I was sent a few letters but since I hadn't been home - I didn't know there was a problem.)  When I returned home to NYC, I though I needed to reset a circut, but came to find out....that ConEd  turned me out - rather - turned me off.  By this time it was about approx. 8PM

 

The Con Ed is on 125 is closed and the Main office is on 14 street - 120+ blocks away.  I needed my serviced to be turned on immediately and the only option was to find a location to pay the bill in cash in person.  The check cashing location on 125 & Fifth Avenue stays open until 10pm I was able to go there, pay my bill and give Con Ed the transaction no.

 

Ten minutes later......There was light!

I used to laugh at the people who used those places.

Nowadays, I go in pretty regularly to get my Metro Cards (Cinti).

There is a credit union in Over the Rhine that sells 'em, too.

OCC also has PO boxes.

Just because these places serve a market doesn't mean they should continue to be allowed to exist. On that score, pot, cocaine, heroin etc. should be legal because they serve a market too. Rob1412 is right. These places aren't much better than loansharks.

I remember when I used to work at a supermarket (about 15 years ago), WE were the check cashing joint.  That was before these check cashing businesses really started to boom.

god i was just waiting for mayday's response...

 

At least Hamilton's doesn't still have the bucket of Chicken.

They left up the bucket!  I love it!

That's awesome!  I think we need a new thread for "not fooling anybodys". 

I work at Nationwide Insurance in Columbus as a GIS intern and we have located where these kinds of check-n-go places, etc are clustered and use it as one indicator in deciding where to put a non-standard auto outpost agent store.  Non-standard auto is auto insurance for people who rent, live paycheck to paycheck, etc. 

I rent and live paycheck-to-paycheck!  No car, though.  Sorry.