Cost of Being Unbanked

​Being unbanked can be an expensive proposition. First, you must find a place to cash your check. Then you must pay a fee to get that check cashed. Sometimes the fee is a percentage of the check amount. Sometimes it is a flat fee. Then you leave with a bunch of cash to pay your bills, and the bad guys know where the check cashing places are. If you are going to use money orders you must buy those, and you may have to go somewhere else to buy them. It also takes up a lot of time for you to do all of this. Over your lifetime, you could spend $40,000 just to conduct your financial business without a bank account. Having a checking or savings account is the on ramp to the mainstream financial world. Do you want to own your home? You’ll need a bank account for that? How about borrow money to buy a car? You can pay all your bills online at your convenience, free of charge as most banks offer free online banking that includes bill payment. The calculator below show how much you can save in one year by having a bank account with one of our Bank On Memphis Coalition members.