The Importance of Check-Cashing Businesses to the Unbanked: Racial/Ethnic Differences
分析调查数据发现，消费者是否使用支票兑现服务与是否无银行账户是联合决策；对无银行账户者，这些服务很重要，但影响因素因种族/民族而异，这有助于解释1996年《债务催收改进法》效果有限的原因。
The roughly 9.5 percent of all U.S. families that are without some type of transaction account (unbanked) are disproportionately represented by minorities.The unbanked often must rely on alternative ways to carry out basic financial transactions such as cashing payroll checks and paying bills.This study analyzes unique survey data and finds that a consumer's decision to patronize check-cashing businesses is jointly made with the decision to be unbanked.For the unbanked, these businesses are an important source for financial services.Attributes that contribute to these decisions, however, vary for each racial/ethnic group.Latent preference effects are also observed to influence this joint decision for Blacks and Hispanics.These findings may explain in part why the provisions of the Debt Collection Improvement Act (DCIA) of 1996 have not been more successful in bringing unbanked federal benefits recipients into the financial mainstream.Consumer participation in mainstream financial markets can improve their ability to build assets and create wealth, protect them from theft and discriminatory, predatory or unsavory lending practices, and may promote economic stability and vitality in the communities where they reside.By more fully understanding a consumer's financial decisions, policies can be better directed to improve the effectiveness of legislation such as the DCIA of 1996 in encouraging mainstream financial market participation. The Importance of Check-Cashing Businesses to the Unbanked:Racial/Ethnic Differences