These people don't cash their checks at Wal-Mart.
Ask the banks what they think of losing 700,000 accounts to credit unions in the last month alone, and they'll tell you that they don't care. Why should they? Those defectors have low balances, they are poor and they suck.
[T]he banks are going to be better off because they are getting rid of their least-profitable or not profitable clients. It helps them stem this tsunami of cash that’s been flowing in that they don’t know what to do with.
If that's the case, why are they so hot and bothered about Wal-Mart's check cashing services?
Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Association, said he was not so bothered by Wal-Mart’s prices as by the fact that it does not face the same regulations as banks. His association has raised the point with the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is considering how to regulate nonbank financial entities.
“If they want to enter into the field, we welcome them to it,” he said. “Just make sure they play by the same rules.”
Bankers want to play by the same rules? How cute! But aside from the obvious hypocrisy, the big banks (and yes, that's who the Consumer Bankers Association represents) can't have it both ways.
Either they're glad that low-income 99 percenters are leaving them, or they're angry that those same people are getting their financial services elsewhere with cheaper, better service. Pick one.
Then again, it's obvious where the truth lies. If it's between what their flacks or lobbyists say, it's no contest. Always bet on the lobbyists.
Wall Street isn't happy to be losing hundreds of thousands of customers. So keep up the pain—keep taking your money out of too-big-to-fail institutions.