Taking on Financial Injustice: Postal Banking for NC

Almost 25% of Americans are being underserved by our banking systems, being left either without banking services or being forced to go to payday lenders where they face predatory interest rates and most Americans are spending approximately 10% of their income on financial services. We need to put an end to economic injustices like this that perpetuate poverty. If you’re turned down by a bank because of bad credit, the last thing you need is to get entangled with payday lenders trying to make a quick buck at the expense of working families.

Our economy should be centered around people, not banks. No one should be denied essential financial services because they are not wealthy, or because they come from the “wrong side of the tracks.”

Post offices are essential to the fabric of our rural communities. As a rural North Carolinian, I already rely on the post office on a daily basis. I also have to drive an hour to get to the closest bank and have seen firsthand the havoc that predatory payday lenders have caused in my community (and I took them on in the NCGA). We are trapped in a cycle of neglect where banks reject our communities which then forces us to take on high interest loans. This is a system of greed and corruption that targets the poor, the working poor, the working class, and the barely middle class.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

So I’m going to do on this issue what I pledge to do on every issue when I’m serving as North Carolina’s next Senator and that’s champion communities that have been left behind with bold, common-sense proposals that ensure government works for all of us, not just the wealthy and the well connected.

I’m so excited to be sharing our campaign’s plan for postal banking. We want to build on the existing postal infrastructure by having the Post Office offer financial transactions such as remittance, savings accounts, and small lending. Allowing post offices to offer banking services will be good for the USPS, will be good for rural communities, and will be good for working North Carolinians.

Those of us who live in rural communities matter. Those of us living paycheck to paycheck matter. Just because some corporate executive on Wall Street deemed our zipcode unworthy of a bank, or us unworthy of a loan, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have the same access to essential services or the same opportunities.

As someone who lives in a community that has gone unseen, unheard, and underrepresented, serving the underserved is personal to me. Under our plan, the Postal Service would offer basic banking services from check cashing, to bill paying to small-dollar loans at a reasonable rate.

This idea isn’t new. From 1911 to 1967 the Post Office offered banking services and even currently, most of our allies around the world, from Japan to Germany, offer postal banking services.

One of my favorite quotes belongs to Ayanna Pressley, “policy is my love language.” Policy is my love language and while Postal Banking may not be the flashiest policy or grab all the headlines, I think it’s important and I know that it’ll make a difference in people’s lives and that’s why I’m in this fight.