Fringe Banking

Fringe Banking PDF Author: John P. Caskey
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610441133
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
"Cogently argued, fills an important gap in the literature, and is accessible to undergraduates." —Choice "Dismantles the mythology surrounding pawnshops and check-cashing outlets, and demonstrates that they are no longer on the fringe of our financial system but integral to it."—San Francisco Bay Guardian In today's world of electronic cash transfers, automated teller machines, and credit cards, the image of the musty, junk-laden pawnshop seems a relic of the past. But it is not. The 1980s witnessed a tremendous boom in pawnbroking. There are now more pawnshops thanever before in U.S. history, and they are found not only in large cities but in towns and suburbs throughout the nation. As John Caskey demonstrates in Fringe Banking, the increased public patronage of both pawnshops and commercial check-cashing outlets signals the growing number of American households now living on a cash-only basis, with no connection to any mainstream credit facilities or banking services. Fringe Banking is the first comprehensive study of pawnshops and check-cashing outlets, profiling their operations, customers, and recent growth from family-owned shops to such successful outlet chains as Cash American and ACE America's Cash Express. It explains why, despite interest rates and fees substantially higher than those of banks, their use has so dramatically increased. According to Caskey, declining family earnings, changing family structures, a growing immigrant population, and lack of household budgeting skills has greatly reduced the demand for bank deposit services among millions of Americans. In addition, banks responded to 1980s regulatory changes by increasing fees on deposit accounts with small balances and closing branches in many poor urban areas. These factors combined to leave many low- and moderate-income families without access to checking privileges, credit services, and bank loans. Pawnshops and check-cashing outlets provide such families with essential financial services thay cannot obtain elsewhere. Caskey notes that fringe banks, particularly check-cashing outlets, are also utilized by families who could participate in the formal banking system, but are willing to pay more for convenience and quick access to cash. Caskey argues that, contrary to their historical reputation as predators milking the poor and desperate, pawnshops and check-cashing outlets play a key financial role for disadvantaged groups. Citing the inconsistent and often unenforced state laws currently governing the industry, Fringe Banking challenges policy makers to design regulations that will allow fringe banks to remain profitable without exploiting the customers who depend on them.

Fringe Banking

Fringe Banking PDF Author: John P. Caskey
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610441133
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Get Book

Book Description
"Cogently argued, fills an important gap in the literature, and is accessible to undergraduates." —Choice "Dismantles the mythology surrounding pawnshops and check-cashing outlets, and demonstrates that they are no longer on the fringe of our financial system but integral to it."—San Francisco Bay Guardian In today's world of electronic cash transfers, automated teller machines, and credit cards, the image of the musty, junk-laden pawnshop seems a relic of the past. But it is not. The 1980s witnessed a tremendous boom in pawnbroking. There are now more pawnshops thanever before in U.S. history, and they are found not only in large cities but in towns and suburbs throughout the nation. As John Caskey demonstrates in Fringe Banking, the increased public patronage of both pawnshops and commercial check-cashing outlets signals the growing number of American households now living on a cash-only basis, with no connection to any mainstream credit facilities or banking services. Fringe Banking is the first comprehensive study of pawnshops and check-cashing outlets, profiling their operations, customers, and recent growth from family-owned shops to such successful outlet chains as Cash American and ACE America's Cash Express. It explains why, despite interest rates and fees substantially higher than those of banks, their use has so dramatically increased. According to Caskey, declining family earnings, changing family structures, a growing immigrant population, and lack of household budgeting skills has greatly reduced the demand for bank deposit services among millions of Americans. In addition, banks responded to 1980s regulatory changes by increasing fees on deposit accounts with small balances and closing branches in many poor urban areas. These factors combined to leave many low- and moderate-income families without access to checking privileges, credit services, and bank loans. Pawnshops and check-cashing outlets provide such families with essential financial services thay cannot obtain elsewhere. Caskey notes that fringe banks, particularly check-cashing outlets, are also utilized by families who could participate in the formal banking system, but are willing to pay more for convenience and quick access to cash. Caskey argues that, contrary to their historical reputation as predators milking the poor and desperate, pawnshops and check-cashing outlets play a key financial role for disadvantaged groups. Citing the inconsistent and often unenforced state laws currently governing the industry, Fringe Banking challenges policy makers to design regulations that will allow fringe banks to remain profitable without exploiting the customers who depend on them.

Fringe Banking in Winnipeg's North End

Fringe Banking in Winnipeg's North End PDF Author: Jerry Buckland
Publisher: Canadian Centre Policy Alternatives
ISBN: 0886274281
Category : Check cashing services
Languages : en
Pages : 55

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Book Description
The geographic boundaries of the North End, as determined by the North End Community Renewal Corporation, is north of the CPR tracks, south of Caruthers Avenue, east of McPhillips Street, and west of the Red River. [...] This 5 In his examination of fringe banking in the US, Caskey (1994, p. 84) argues that a chief reason for their rise is the increase in the number of households without bank accounts, rising from 9.5% of the US population in 1977 to 13.5% in 1989, the result of processes affecting banks (supply side) and bank clients (demand side). [...] The second focus credit risk related to high levels of debt-servicing and personal bankruptcy; the contraction in the bank and finance company supply of non-revolving, unsecured loans; the growing numbers of people with higher credit risk due to increased legal and illegal immigration to the US; the increase in gold prices; the growing awareness among entrepreneurs of the profits in fringe banking [...] Winnipeg and the 16.5% of the population of the North End, North End both have around 13.5% of comprise a smaller percentage at 11.9% their population over the age of retire- of the population of Winnipeg. [...] This is sub- the number of people contributing income stantially higher than the 35% average in to a household, the greater the likelihood the rest of Winnipeg.

Fringe Finance

Fringe Finance PDF Author: Rob Aitken
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317748379
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The most recent conversations about financial instability in International Political Economy have addressed the ongoing financial spasms of the past five years; a global financial spasm unleashed by the 2008 subprime debacle, ongoing Eurozone instability, and general price volatility in securities markets globally. Alongside and as part of these broader spasms, however, has been another key trend—the intensifying reach of global financial markets into and among those populations which live at its very edges. There are increasing, and increasingly profitable, experiments which are explicitly targeted to those without regular access to full or formalized financial practices. This book places the practices of fringe finance in critical context by situating them within a larger set of discussions in the field. Most importantly, this book is part of a much broader attempt in IPE to rethread the study of finance to questions of cultural and social theory in a meaningful manner. Finance is increasingly subjected to innovative forms of social inquiry influenced by a range of diverse methods including governmentality, actor-network theory and cultural economy. By drawing on several strands of social theory, this book contributes to this broader movement in IPE and helps open more space for the continuation of these interdisciplinary conversations. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of IPE, development studies and economic sociology.

Shortchanged

Shortchanged PDF Author: Howard Jacob Karger
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1609943880
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
“An eye-opening read in the school of Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel & Dimed . . . shines a bright light on the economy’s darker side.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) Drive through a low-income neighborhood and you’re likely to see streets lined with pawnshops, check cashers, rent-to-own stores, payday and tax refund lenders, auto title pawns, and buy-here-pay-here used car lots. We’re awash in “alternative financial services” directed at the poor and those with credit problems. Howard Karger describes this world as an economic Wild West, where just about any financial scheme that’s not patently illegal is tolerated. Taking a hard look at this fringe economy, Karger shows that what seem to be small, independent storefront operations are actually part of a fully-formed parallel economy dominated by a handful of well-financed corporations, subject to little or no oversight, with increasingly strong ties to mainstream financial institutions. It is a hidden world, Karger writes, where a customer’s economic fate is sealed with a handshake, a smile, and a stack of fine print documents that would befuddle many attorneys. Filled with heartbreaking stories of real people trapped in perpetual debt, Shortchanged exposes the deceptive practices that allow these businesses to prey on people when they are most vulnerable. Karger reveals the many ways this industry has run amok, ruining countless people’s lives, and shows that it’s not just the poor but, more and more, maxed-out middle class consumers who fall prey to these devious schemes. Balancing compassion with a realistic awareness of the risks any business faces in working with an economically distressed clientele, Karger details hard-headed, practical recommendations for reforming this predatory industry.

How the Other Half Banks

How the Other Half Banks PDF Author: Mehrsa Baradaran
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674495446
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
The United States has two separate banking systems today—one serving the well-to-do and another exploiting everyone else. How the Other Half Banks contributes to the growing conversation on American inequality by highlighting one of its prime causes: unequal credit. Mehrsa Baradaran examines how a significant portion of the population, deserted by banks, is forced to wander through a Wild West of payday lenders and check-cashing services to cover emergency expenses and pay for necessities—all thanks to deregulation that began in the 1970s and continues decades later. “Baradaran argues persuasively that the banking industry, fattened on public subsidies (including too-big-to-fail bailouts), owes low-income families a better deal...How the Other Half Banks is well researched and clearly written...The bankers who fully understand the system are heavily invested in it. Books like this are written for the rest of us.” —Nancy Folbre, New York Times Book Review “How the Other Half Banks tells an important story, one in which we have allowed the profit motives of banks to trump the public interest.” —Lisa J. Servon, American Prospect

Hard Choices

Hard Choices PDF Author: Jerry Buckland
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442662611
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
When low-income city dwellers lack access to mainstream banking services, many end up turning to ‘fringe banks,’ such as cheque-cashers and pawnshops, for some or all of their financial transactions. This predicament of ‘financial exclusion’ – faced by those underserved by conventional financial institutions – is comprehensively examined in Jerry Buckland's powerful study, Hard Choices. The first account of the nature and causes of financial exclusion in Canada, Hard Choices thoroughly integrates economic and social data on consumer choice, bank behaviour, and government policy. Buckland demonstrates why the current two-tier system of banking is becoming increasingly dysfunctional, especially in the context of new credit products that aggravate income inequality and stifle local economic growth. Featuring a foreword by esteemed economics scholar John P. Caskey, Hard Choices presents pragmatic policy improvements on both the public and private levels that can promote and build financial inclusion for all.

City of Debtors

City of Debtors PDF Author: Anne Fleming
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674982053
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Since the 1890s, people on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder in the U.S. have paid the highest price for credit. Anne Fleming tells how each generation has tackled the problem of fringe finance and its regulation. Her detailed work contributes to the broader, ongoing debate about the meaning of justice within capitalistic societies.

The Secondary Banking Crisis, 1973–75

The Secondary Banking Crisis, 1973–75 PDF Author: Margaret Reid
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349052868
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description


Taming the Fringe

Taming the Fringe PDF Author: Craig McMahon
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 303070615X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
Taming the Fringe analyses the regulation and evolution of two credit products that were, and remain, vital to the working poor. Policymakers have struggled with pawnbroking and moneylending because they raise broader issues pertaining to poverty, capitalism and financial regulation. The values of easily accessible credit and financial independence compete with society’s desire to protect people from predatory loans. Policymakers have pondered whether regulation can lower costs without reducing access for those most in need of small cash loans. Can government policy protect borrowers while also providing sufficient profit for lenders? The many attempts at doing so reveal the difficulty of safeguarding the needs of people who have experienced financial trouble before seeking a loan. Taming the Fringe is the first extended study of the payday lending and pawnbroking markets in Britain, and the only one to examine over 160 years of financial results and market data. This work explains why small-value lenders have generated such passionate debate, even being described as the devil incarnate. It adds to our knowledge of fringe banking and the evolving role of financial regulation to protect the working poor. Since 1870, pawnbrokers and moneylenders have actively shaped regulation – a viewpoint the existing literature does not address adequately. This work contributes to the scholarly and policy dialogue on financial inclusion, working-class poverty and the development and legitimacy of fringe lending. This book analyses the motivation, content and outcome of critical regulatory episodes that have shaped fringe banking. While historians have written volumes about consumer credit, few have analysed why elite policymakers have sought to protect the working poor from some credit markets. This work demonstrates that, across time, conflicting views on poverty and liberal economic theory have, to varying degrees, influenced how the government has protected the working poor, and will be of interest to financial and economic historians.

Credit Markets for the Poor

Credit Markets for the Poor PDF Author: Patrick Bolton
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610440757
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Access to credit is an important means of providing people with the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. Loans are essential for most people who want to purchase a home, start a business, pay for college, or weather a spell of unemployment. Yet many people in poor and minority communities—regardless of their creditworthiness—find credit hard to come by, making the climb out of poverty extremely difficult. How dire are the lending markets in these communities and what can be done to improve access to credit for disadvantaged groups? In Credit Markets for the Poor, editors Patrick Bolton and Howard Rosenthal and an expert team of economists, political scientists, and legal and business scholars tackle these questions with shrewd analysis and a wealth of empirical data. Credit Markets for the Poor opens by examining what credit options are available to poor households. Economist John Caskey profiles how weak credit options force many working families into a disastrous cycle of short-term, high interest loans in order to sustain themselves between paychecks. Löic Sadoulet explores the reasons that community lending organizations, which have been so successful in developing countries, have failed in more advanced economies. He argues the obstacles that have inhibited community lending groups in industrialized countries—such as a lack of institutional credibility and the high cost of establishing lending networks—can be overcome if banks facilitate the community lending process and establish a system of repayment insurance. Credit Markets for the Poor also examines how legal institutions affect the ability of the poor to borrow. Daniela Fabbri and Mario Padula argue that well-meaning provisions making it more difficult for lenders to collect on defaulted loans are actually doing a disservice to the poor in credit markets. They find that in areas with lax legal enforcement of debt agreements, credit markets for the poor are underdeveloped because lenders are unwilling to take risks on issuing credit or will do so only at exorbitant interest rates. Timothy Bates looks at programs that facilitate small-business development and finds that they have done little to reduce poverty. He argues that subsidized business creation programs may lure inexperienced households into entrepreneurship in areas where little profitable investment is possible, hence setting them up for failure. With clarity and insightful analysis, Credit Markets for the Poor demonstrates how weak credit markets are impeding the social and economic mobility of the needy. By detailing the many disadvantages that impoverished people face when seeking to borrow, this important new volume highlights a significant national problem and offers solutions for the future.