A quick follow-up to the post here earlier this week on "Amazon Bank": The New York Times reports:
There are a number of reasons that low-income consumers have been less avid online shoppers, including the fact that many do not have credit cards....Amazon has tried to address some of these obstacles. Amazon Cash, for example, allows people to add money to their Amazon accounts by taking cash to CVS pharmacies, GameStops and other retail locations.
This is another example of the possibility of dealing with a problem — lack of access to banking services by low-income individuals — through free-market, for-profit solutions rather than by Elizabeth Warren-style regulation. One approach is passing laws or writing rules requiring banks to open branches in low-income neighborhoods or issue credit cards to consumers with low credit ratings. Another approach is that if the banks fail to serve those customers, some other profit-seeker, such as Amazon, will enter the market to find a way to serve these customers. The approaches aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. But my bet would be that the Amazon approach will be the more effective one.