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For these 43 million
by kim
Before you start trading FOREX make sure you know exactly what market you are in. Very likely the best definition of FOREX can be found at the INVESTOPEDIA website (quality information source for investors): "The foreign exchange (also known as "FOREX" or "FX") market is the place where currencies are traded. The overall forex market is the largest, most liquid market in the world with an average traded value that exceeds $1.9 trillion per day and includes all of the currencies in the world." To add another view, here is how authors of the well known INVESTORWORDS lexicon define FOREX: "An over-the-counter market where buyers and sellers conduct foreign exchange transactions, also called foreign exchange ma
Even if you hate this idea, there's a lot to like about it, isn't there? Provided you have a bank account, it's definitely easier and more efficient to have money directly deposited into your account. It's also estimated that this will save the government $1 billion a year. For people worried about the deficit, well, this can only help.
8. Better Customer Service
In an era where some customers, or ex-customers, actually put up sites denegrating banks, like BankofAmericaSux.com, banks understand just how much anger there is out there. (By the way, Prime Performance, a company that helps businesses become well liked, recently came out with a survey showing that Regions Bank is considered the friendliest bank; Capital One and Chase came in last).
Granted, every bank manager is different, and maybe the awareness that customers are angry won't mean a hill of beans to some executives and staff out there, but it seems logical to expect in 2011 that banks will make a better effort to make their customers as happy as possible. If nothing else, bankers have got to know that if they drive every customer away, they'll have nobody left to nickel and dime to death.
9. More Ways Than Ever to Manage Your Bank Account
Not to take away anything from Mint.com, but there are plenty of other online financial management tools out there, too, from Thrive and Buxfer to, as we just mentioned in a recent post, Payoff.com, which debuted Jan. 5 of this year. Expect more services to make a splash in 2011, like GreenSherpa.com, which mixes banking and online gaming and hasn't yet launched (although you can send in your address to get an email invite when the beta version is unveiled).
10. More Alternatives to Banking
True, we've been dancing around this idea for several paragraphs now, mentioning Walmart earlier, and how angry customers have been at banks. If you're one of those who are fed up with your bank, you can definitely be happy that there are more ways than ever to leave your bank and find a way to bank without an actual bank. For instance, there's been a lot of buzz in the blogosphere about BankSimple, which is launching in 2011. It's a debit card that's meant to replace your brick-and-mortar and online personal bank. While we've no idea how effective or popular it'll be -- and I'm not recommending ditching your favorite or even unfavorite financial institution -- I'm sure some people will want to check out BankSimple.
Why? Their marketing campaign seems to be largely predicated on the idea that, "Hey, we're not a bank."
Cash-Only Living Not So Affordable
Martha C. WhiteMartha C. White RSS Feed
Jan 7th 2011 at 2:00PM
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Filed under: Banking, Extracurriculars
Payin in cashSince January is a time for fresh starts, it's not unusual that this time of year brings with it the desire by some to "break free" of the financial mainstream. Articles like this one chronicle the eschewing of conventional banking and credit products in favor of living a cash-only existence.
The bottom line, as this writer and others who attempt similar stunts quickly find out, is that shunning mainstream banks is hard -- and expensive.
Alternatives to ordinary checking accounts, debit and credit cards are scarce, sometimes sketchy and almost always pricey. Most banks won't cash a check for a non-account holder and check-cashing storefronts charge a hefty fee for the privilege.
Paying things like phone, cable and utility bills entails driving to different locations and using expensive money orders to keep the accounts in good standing. Undertaking common transactions like renting a car or buying a plane ticket with cash entails significant outlays of both time and money.
Many unbanked Americans, as they're called by the Federal Reserve, which estimates that this group numbers a whopping 43 million, rely on this patchwork of check-cashing outlets, money orders and pricey prepaid debit cards to cover basic expenses most of us pay with a mere swipe or click.
For these 43 million unbanked Americans, they have no other choice but to rely on inconvenient and expensive alternatives. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis said in a recent paper that the people most likely to be unbanked are poor, poorly-educated, young or immigrants; in other words, people for whom a 1.8% charge to cash a paycheck is an especially heavy burden.rket.
Even if you hate this idea, there's a lot to like about it, isn't there? Provided you have a bank account, it's definitely easier and more efficient to have money directly deposited into your account. It's also estimated that this will save the government $1 billion a year. For people worried about the deficit, well, this can only help.
8. Better Customer Service
In an era where some customers, or ex-customers, actually put up sites denegrating banks, like BankofAmericaSux.com, banks understand just how much anger there is out there. (By the way, Prime Performance, a company that helps businesses become well liked, recently came out with a survey showing that Regions Bank is considered the friendliest bank; Capital One and Chase came in last).
Granted, every bank manager is different, and maybe the awareness that customers are angry won't mean a hill of beans to some executives and staff out there, but it seems logical to expect in 2011 that banks will make a better effort to make their customers as happy as possible. If nothing else, bankers have got to know that if they drive every customer away, they'll have nobody left to nickel and dime to death.
9. More Ways Than Ever to Manage Your Bank Account
Not to take away anything from Mint.com, but there are plenty of other online financial management tools out there, too, from Thrive and Buxfer to, as we just mentioned in a recent post, Payoff.com, which debuted Jan. 5 of this year. Expect more services to make a splash in 2011, like GreenSherpa.com, which mixes banking and online gaming and hasn't yet launched (although you can send in your address to get an email invite when the beta version is unveiled).
10. More Alternatives to Banking
True, we've been dancing around this idea for several paragraphs now, mentioning Walmart earlier, and how angry customers have been at banks. If you're one of those who are fed up with your bank, you can definitely be happy that there are more ways than ever to leave your bank and find a way to bank without an actual bank. For instance, there's been a lot of buzz in the blogosphere about BankSimple, which is launching in 2011. It's a debit card that's meant to replace your brick-and-mortar and online personal bank. While we've no idea how effective or popular it'll be -- and I'm not recommending ditching your favorite or even unfavorite financial institution -- I'm sure some people will want to check out BankSimple.
Why? Their marketing campaign seems to be largely predicated on the idea that, "Hey, we're not a bank."
Cash-Only Living Not So Affordable
Martha C. WhiteMartha C. White RSS Feed
Jan 7th 2011 at 2:00PM
Text SizeAAA
Share
Filed under: Banking, Extracurriculars
Payin in cashSince January is a time for fresh starts, it's not unusual that this time of year brings with it the desire by some to "break free" of the financial mainstream. Articles like this one chronicle the eschewing of conventional banking and credit products in favor of living a cash-only existence.
The bottom line, as this writer and others who attempt similar stunts quickly find out, is that shunning mainstream banks is hard -- and expensive.
Alternatives to ordinary checking accounts, debit and credit cards are scarce, sometimes sketchy and almost always pricey. Most banks won't cash a check for a non-account holder and check-cashing storefronts charge a hefty fee for the privilege.
Paying things like phone, cable and utility bills entails driving to different locations and using expensive money orders to keep the accounts in good standing. Undertaking common transactions like renting a car or buying a plane ticket with cash entails significant outlays of both time and money.
Many unbanked Americans, as they're called by the Federal Reserve, which estimates that this group numbers a whopping 43 million, rely on this patchwork of check-cashing outlets, money orders and pricey prepaid debit cards to cover basic expenses most of us pay with a mere swipe or click.
For these 43 million unbanked Americans, they have no other choice but to rely on inconvenient and expensive alternatives. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis said in a recent paper that the people most likely to be unbanked are poor, poorly-educated, young or immigrants; in other words, people for whom a 1.8% charge to cash a paycheck is an especially heavy burden.rket.