Credit Unions for example require a share purchase usually so while it's usually quite small some people can't afford to loose even $5.

Sometimes it's also debt, guy owes his normal bank a fuckload of money so uses the cash checking to cash his check, he might lose a bit in fees but it's probably less than what the bank would of taken. I've seen alot of contractors in this situation.

Ive cashed paychecks at one point using these placss. I dont think I had a bank account at the time. To open an account you have to deposit money. I couldnt afford to just leave money in an account in any given week, so I didnt have one. So I used to cash them at Stop n Shop, a grocery store. They would do it for a small fee. Then one day, they said they wouldnt cash my checks anymore, because my credit was bad? It made no sense to me at the time.

So for about a year, I used the local sketch ball check cashing place. I think they took 8% or something. Later in life, there was a time I just cashed them at walmart. Damn, there was a time in my lofe I was too broke to have a bank account. oye.

They don't want to risk people overdrafting and just changing banks.

One thing is financial literacy.

A lot of people come from a cycle of poverty where no one around them can explain why it's a good idea to have a bank account.

Also, there are predatory banks that demand minimum amounts to start any account. If you don't have $200.00 to start an account it's hard to start an account.

Back in the day, banks encouraged little kids to start bank accounts with just a few dollars. I had a bank book when I was 12. Those days are long gone. I went to Bank of America with a check from a BOA account and they wanted to charge me. I could wait to get to my own bank, but other folks wouldn't have that option.

Banks have a separate system, like the credit rating system, they use just for depositors. Credit scores reflect the risk to lend money to you. But the banks keep other scores and lists of depositors. Too many overdrafts or transactions their AI considers suspicious? You can be blacklisted from opening an account at any bank.

There's not a high risk of making much money off then, so it's considered a waste of time and resources

Are you saying that someone could actually be so poor that a bank will refuse them from opening a checking account?

If you really don't have any money other than your paycheck, you can open that bank account....with the check you need to deposit. Virtually every bank will give you a free account if you deposit your paycheck with them.

A bank account is something everyone can have. This idea you can be too poor for a bank account is a myth.