Elizabeth Warren backs proposal to make the USPS a ‘public option’ for payday lending (via Raw Story )

Post Office branches could replace payday lenders under a proposal endorsed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). The Office of the Inspector General reported last week that 68 million Americans — more than one-fourth of all households – have no checking  or savings account and spent about $89 billion in 2012 on interest and fees on non-bank financial services.

Those households spend about $2,412 a year on these fees – or roughly the same amount they spend on food, Warren noted in a column posted Saturday at The Huffington Post.

“Think about that: about 10 percent of a family’s income just to manage getting checks cashed, bills paid, and, sometimes, a short-term loan to tide them over,” Warren wrote. “That’s more than a full month’s income just to try to navigate the basics.”

From the Raw Story

Posted by the NON-Conformist