# Is it possible to live in the US without a bank account? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 3, 2023, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545 "2023-11-03T19:21:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/21 "2023-11-03T20:09:25Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > How does a trust work? Is it two-way? Can you actually use a trust like a piggy bank and put money into it, or is it not just to hold a pile of older money and dole it out instead of dumping it on the recipents’ laps? Everything would be in the name of the trust. The trust owns the house and the car. The trust has a bank account which accepts direct deposit paychecks and pays bills. The trust lets the beneficiary use all the stuff. A trust is kind of like the relationship between a parent and a child. The parent owns everything and provides for all the needs of the child. Nothing is in the child’s name, but the child can live in the house, use the car, use the parent’s credit card, etc. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/22 "2023-11-03T20:13:56Z")
A way to do some banking-like transactions without a bank is with a prepaid debit card like this one: > **[Prepaid Debit Account](https://www.bluebird.com/prepaidaccount)** > > The Bluebird Prepaid Debit Card by American Express lets you easily manage your money with no monthly fees. Add cash for free at Walmart, pay bills & more. You can reload them with cash at the store. Some will accept direct deposit. Some even have bill paying services. It works pretty much like a debit card when you need to make purchases or buy something online. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/23 "2023-11-03T20:16:32Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > Everything would be in the name of the trust. The trust owns the house and the car. The trust has a bank account which accepts direct deposit paychecks and pays bills. The trust lets the beneficiary use all the stuff. But what about his salary? Would Congress’ payroll office be willing to pay his salary to an LLC? ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/24 "2023-11-03T20:20:22Z")
I’m not sure of the specifics, but I think all that is needed for direct deposit are the routing and account numbers of a bank account. I wouldn’t think that there would be a requirement that the bank account is owned by the employee, but I’m not sure. But if it had to be his own account, he could have a bank account that would accept the direct deposit and then immediately initiate a transfer to the trust’s account. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/25 "2023-11-03T20:28:03Z")
Do prepaid cards and payroll cards that somewhat function as bank account with more limited (though most of these now pretty much have full banking services) count? How about the prepaid debit cards from HR Block and tax services, etc? Because I know quite a few people who might live off their employer provided ADP card and then their HR Block tax refund card. But to me those are all technically banks. Actually using cash and check cashing services with no accounts at all attached would seem very difficult but possible and probably only for those sort of in the grey economy doing things for cash and barter. Maybe rent a room somewhere with no utilities in your name, have a prepaid phone, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/26 "2023-11-03T20:33:59Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > My aunt who married at 18 and died at 76 still married to my uncle NEVER had a bank account in HER name–everything was in her husband’s(my uncle’s) name. > > I am sure there are plenty of other people in HER position, As I recall, Al Capone had nothing in his name. His wife owned their house, for example. That’s why it was hard to pin him for tax evasion- you couldn’t prove he had any money. I believe it was _his own_ lawyers who stipulated to an income, thereby providing the evidence necessary to show he hadn’t paid any taxes. > [@TruCelt](#): > > I think the most likely answer is that he operates from a family trust or LLC. Agreed. > [@md-2000](#): > > How does a trust work? Is it two-way? Can you actually use a trust like a piggy bank and put money into it, or is it not just to hold a pile of older money and dole it out instead of dumping it on the recipents’ laps? You can fund a trust during its life; it’s like it’s own legal entity that can then invest money and stuff. The key to a trust is that the trustee can’t be the sole beneficiary, and the trust must be run for the benefit of the beneficiaries. But a person can create a trust, name them and their kids as beneficiaries, and then effectively use it for their own personal benefit, acting under the theory that their expenditures are providing for the family. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/27 "2023-11-03T20:50:34Z")
I know a guy who’s banned from having a checking account and gets his paycheck from Goodwill, where he works, via a payroll card. He’s not one of Goodwill’s disabled employees, just a regular dumbass guy who wrote too many bad checks. [Info on Goodwill’s payroll card.](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cfsi-innovation-files/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/02161421/Prepaid-Cards-and-Goodwill-Industries-International-Improving-Efficiency-and-Employee-Benefits.pdf) Surely Johnson doesn’t get paid this way but just an example of how some people do get paid. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/28 "2023-11-03T21:06:14Z")
You don’t need banks to pay utility bills: they all have a number of places you can pay these bills in cash, or you can mail in a money order. At Walmart, for example, you can pay 20,000 companies/organizations: > **[Bill Pay - Walmart.com](https://www.walmart.com/cp/bill-pay/8721209)** > > Shop for Bill Pay at Walmart and save. Info on pay cards: > **[What is a pay card?](https://www.creditkarma.com/credit-cards/i/what-is-a-pay-card)** > > Using a pay card is one way to receive your paycheck, but it’s not always your best option. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/29 "2023-11-03T21:34:51Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > (IIRC a congresscritter gets almost $200,000 a year, which is over $3500 a week.) Nitpick: $4,000. Pretty close to the $5,000 declaring limit. How often do Congressmen get paid? Weekly? OK. Monthly? He’s already over the limit. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I am not sure how I could pay my mortgage without a bank account. Would you ever get a mortgage at all without a bank account? Why does he not have an account? Is it because of ideological reasons, so the (Deep) StateTM does not spy on him? Is distrusting banks that much not _socialism_? Or is he just wacky\*? I personally would not trust such a person to do business with. \*Funny how many [synonyms Merriam-Webster lists for wacky](https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wacky). Seems to be a central concept in the English language. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/30 "2023-11-03T21:58:16Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Is it possible to live in the US with no bank account? If you have a six figure annual salary? Literally, yes. Some brokerages have a settlement fund with a checking feature. You miss out on FDIC insurance, but I accept the risk in return for usually-higher-than-any-bank interest. However, a member of Congress would have to report that, if the balance for all family accounts combined was over $5,000, just like with a bank. Is it possible that on the annual reporting date, the member of congress in question has less than a $5,000 combined balance? Yes. Highly possible. Now, I checked, and in six reporting years since he began filing disclosures, he has never reported a checking account or similar. Is it possible that he always stays under 5K? Barely possible. He, or his wife, could carefully balance the checking account and move money in and out of investments. Would that be obvious from the financial disclosures if true? Yes. I looked through a bunch of the [disclosure reports you are alluding to](https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/FinancialDisclosure). It is appears to me that most members are probably following all the rules, but some, from both parties, are likely leaving out relatively small stuff. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/31 "2023-11-03T22:54:28Z")
How do you get banned from having a checking account? What would stop you from going to another bank, or credit union, and opening an account there? Or did he do that at every financial institution in town? ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/32 "2023-11-03T22:55:16Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Is it possible to live in the US with no bank account? But of course. Ask any of the many homeless. For many, it is cheaper, too. But it is much, much harder to do so and function within commonly expected lifestyles. But for Johnson, I suspect that money might be held in accounts by his spouse, not him. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/33 "2023-11-03T22:57:28Z")
I don’t think they found any accounts in her name either, or even in the names of any of their children. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/34 "2023-11-03T22:58:49Z")
He’s probably an extreme Dave Ramsey guy. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/35 "2023-11-03T22:59:29Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > How do you get banned from having a checking account? What would stop you from going to another bank, or credit union, and opening an account there? See my answer above - ChexSystems is how banks share that info, so generally you’re blacklisted from all of them who participate, which is most. The way to climb your way out of that hole is to demonstrate regular payment/reliability history with a limited account. Usually these have unwaiveable fees, and credit cards may be “secured” meaning they put down $X that gets locked away as a surety, but then they get a credit limit for the same amount. After 6 months or a year I think, you can readdress your history and revert to a regular account. YMMV and I haven’t worked in banking in a long time, but usually something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/36 "2023-11-03T22:59:34Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > But for Johnson, I suspect that money might be held in accounts by his spouse, not him. Is there a good reason to do this other than to evade the IRS and public scrutiny? ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/37 "2023-11-03T23:30:15Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I don’t think they found any accounts in her name either, or even in the names of any of their children. It’s not what they found, but what he reported. Six years in a row, no reportable assets other than his government pension fund. Not all assets have to be reported. [The rules are here](https://ethics.house.gov/sites/ethics.house.gov/files/documents/Updated%20Final%20Combined%202023%20Instruction%20Guide.pdf). This is part of it: > [@](#): > > In order to determine whether deposits in a bank account must be disclosed, you must first add together all interest-bearing checking and savings accounts held by you, your spouse, or dependent child at every financial institution in which you have such accounts. If the total value of these accounts exceeded $5,000 at the end of the reporting period, then you must disclose each financial institution that held deposits valued at more than $1,000. You must also report any interest-bearing account that generated more than $200 in interest during the reporting period, even if it was valued at less than $1,000 at the close of the reporting period or your total deposits were less than $5,000. Note the phrase “interest bearing” above. In general, American brick-and-mortar checking accounts pay some very low rate of interest. However, I just checked, and the Congressional Federal Credit Union doesn’t pay interest on checking. I noticed other members listing that on their disclosures anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/38 "2023-11-03T23:40:22Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Is there a good reason to do this other than to evade the IRS and public scrutiny? You’re asking about having the money in his wife’s account, but that isn’t the case here. Instead, the most likely speculation is that assets are in trust or some other form of “asset protection”, People with wealth engage in asset protection to ease the transfer of wealth between generations (e.g: if your house is owned by a trust that includes you and your kids as trustees, there’s no need to _sell_ the house to your kids when you die - the trust always owns it, even as the trustee perhaps changes from you to your spouse or an adult child), to maximize tax advantages (e.g: since the aforementioned transfer isn’t a change in ownership, even as it’s a change of control, there’s no tax on the transfer), and also to minimize their personal exposure to lawsuits (suppose one of the kids gets sued. The house, and any other trust assets, aren’t subject to levy if a judgment is obtained), ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2023, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/39 "2023-11-04T00:46:56Z")
4.5% of American households (which is 5.9 million households) have no bank accounts (for anyone in the household: > **[2021 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households](https://www.fdic.gov/analysis/household-survey/index.html)** > > 2021 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2023, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545/40 "2023-11-04T01:55:13Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Instead, the most likely speculation is that assets are in trust or some other form of “asset protection”, The Congressional reporting requirement includes non-blind trusts. If the checking account is titled Johnson Family Trust, that’s just as reportable as if titled joint tenants, or in the spouse’s name, or a child’s name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-live-in-the-us-without-a-bank-account/992545.md?page=3)