# Why do the poor people bring in cash to make payments? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2010, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980 "2010-01-30T01:48:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/21 "2010-01-30T10:39:12Z")
> [@Pullet](#): > > Crap. You guys have suddenly given me new motivation to stop screening my phone calls. They can’t garnish your accounts if they don’t have a judgement. You will know if you have been sued and lost. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/22 "2010-01-30T12:22:39Z")
Reminds of a liquor store I used to go to. It’s pretty common for liquor stores to cash paychecks, people with money in their pocket will usually buy some booze on their way out. And the guys who run the stores learn which companies paycheck are good, and cash them with no question. There was a big Highway project going on, and brought in a couple hundred workers. And a large number of the workers lived only in cash, to avoid alimony garnishment or whatever. Most of them never bothered to get cars either. They got a ride to work, then after work got dropped off in front of the hotel. They spend their 6 months going from the Hotel, to work, to the liquor store, to the bar then back to sleep and start over, Kind of like the old mining towns. Anyway they were pretty well payed, with weekly paychecks from 800 to 1500, it always amazed me when I went in there and there were 15 people in line waiting to cash pay checks from the little old guy at the back counter, 5 feet from the back door, out of his little green metal cash box. He must have had probably had somewhere between $25k-$35k in cash Friday afternoon, with no visible security anywhere.(I know not visible doesn’t mean there wasn’t any, but Most of the effect of security is to be visible as a deterrent.) But every couple weeks a gas station in the area got robbed for a couple hundred bucks. Criminals just are stupid I guess. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/23 "2010-01-30T12:29:48Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/24 "2010-01-30T17:37:08Z")
> [@MitzeKatze](#): > > I hope this isn’t too much of a hijack, but what happens then? If a bank account is garnished, but there is nothing there to take, does the garnishment just sit around waiting for a deposit to be made or does the creditor doing the garnishment have to start all over? The procedure here in Georgia (can’t speak about other states) is that the creditor serves the garnishment on the bank, and the bank must then file an answer and pay the garnished funds into court, including any funds on hand when the garnishment was served _and any funds deposited into the account from the time the garnishment is served to the time the answer is filed_. The answer must be filed not sooner than 30 days after the garnishment is served and not later than 45 days after the garnishment is served. (Unless the debtor has no account at all, in which case the bank may file its answer immediately.) After that, the garnishment is over and the creditor must start again. But depending on the size of the judgment being collected, a garnishment can effectively shut down a bank account for 30 to 45 days. Moreover, if a debtor has one creditor filing a garnishment, there are likely other creditors out there contemplating the same action. So someone who has been subjected to one garnishment may be (reasonably) paranoid that another garnishment might follow the first. For that reason, such a person might avoid having a bank account at all. (To bring it back to the OP.) For obvious reasons, garnishments often trigger bankruptcies. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/25 "2010-01-31T02:58:29Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Around here Hispanics are known for keeping a lot of cash at home and because of that they are frequent targets of home robberies. I know a lot of them carry a lot of cash around with them too. Kind of strange at first watching some guy rummage through $1500 in cash looking for a $5. Until you realize that’s all this guy has to his name. ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/26 "2010-01-31T03:08:20Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > They can’t garnish your accounts if they don’t have a judgement. You will know if you have been sued and lost. Hmm. That’s something at least. There is always the defense of litigation, too. [Creative technique for discouraging collectors](http://www.dallasobserver.com/2010-01-21/news/better-off-deadbeat-craig-cunningham-has-a-simple-solution-for-getting-bill-collectors-off-his-back-he-sues-them/2) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/27 "2010-01-31T03:31:49Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Anyway they were pretty well payed, with weekly paychecks from 800 to 1500, it always amazed me when I went in there and there were 15 people in line waiting to cash pay checks from the little old guy at the back counter, 5 feet from the back door, out of his little green metal cash box. He must have had probably had somewhere between $25k-$35k in cash Friday afternoon, with no visible security anywhere.(I know not visible doesn’t mean there wasn’t any, but Most of the effect of security is to be visible as a deterrent.) But every couple weeks a gas station in the area got robbed for a couple hundred bucks. Criminals just are stupid I guess. If there were always 15 construction workers in line for their paychecks, that might be a partial but not complete deterrent. I imagine gas stations would be robbed a lot less if they were always pretty full. Which is not to say that some would not brave a whole line of people, but there would be some who would be afraid of being overpowered to the point that they would find some other crime or way to get money. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/28 "2010-01-31T03:41:07Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#): > > Also, I work for cash - waitressing, working at a coffee shop, and doing various other things where I get tips or cash under the table. Unless I go put it in the bank every day, I’ve always got some in my pocket. Bingo. When I was washing dishes to pay for college, I got a small cut of tips from every waitress, so I got six or eight bucks in ones from three or four different girls everyday. I tried to change it for tens and twenties when I could, but it wasn’t uncommon for me to go in to the bank and make a deposit of more than $60 in ones, just to avoid having to look like I just came from a strip club. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/29 "2010-01-31T05:43:14Z")
Two reasons I haven’t seen mentioned: 1. In a middle or upper class neighborhood, you take it for granted there will be full service banks available. There often AREN’T any in poor neighborhoods, just as there aren’t any supermarkets. Poor people often have to pay MORE for their groceries, because they must shop at small Mom and Pop operations that can’t buy in bulk, and they must often carry out financial transactions at check cashing stores that keep a percentage of the check’s value. 2. In Texas, and many other places, a lot of the poor people are illegal aliens from Latin America. They work construction or service jobs and get paid in cash. Even if they COULD get bank accounts, they probably wouldn’t, since they fear a paper trail could lead the Immigration men to them. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/30 "2010-01-31T08:45:16Z")
> [@MitzeKatze](#): > > I hope I am not being wooshed…but to add to the reasons already stated a bank account may be an unaffordable luxury. > > A lot of banks have monthly fees, especially when one has a low balance, in addition to check fees and overdraft fees that could easily happen if one was not vigilant and there was only a small amount available. Once you overdraft once, and are unable to immediately pay the fee these things tend to snowball, so one could quickly go from a bank account with 10 to one with -100 which would be even harder to climb out from under. And a lot of banks have a minimum balance, too, both for savings and checking accounts. I remember trying desperately to find a bank that didn’t want us to keep at least $500 in our checking account, back when we were poor. We didn’t HAVE $500 to spare, we needed every dime. And, of course, cashing checks and buying money orders at KMart or a department store also incurred a fee, but it was actually cheaper to pay that fee than to bank at a real bank. We finally managed to get an account at a credit union, where the minimum deposit was something like $5, I believe…quite a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/31 "2010-01-31T10:21:20Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > They can’t garnish your accounts if they don’t have a judgement. You will know if you have been sued and lost. If the credit card was issued by the bank he had his account at, they could take whatever they were owed, up to the amount in the account. Credit Unions do it all the time. If you have your car loan, house loan, or credit cards with the bank you have your savings or checking accounts with, you are at risk for this happening if you default. ---
**Author:** ![Getheren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Getheren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Getheren)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/32 "2010-01-31T11:44:07Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > Excuse me, I’m very fiscally ignorant (I’m changing this slowly)…it’s something I notice. > > When poor people (I can tell!) send payments, it’s almost always cash. I’m not trying to stereotype…I know they are getting cash from other ways besides selling drugs or selling sex. Why don’t they write checks or make credit card payments? Some people just prefer to deal in cash, for one reason or another. Some are living in the cash economy to be off of creditors’ radar; others have too-bad credit to get a checking account, or are working under the table for one reason or another. Some work in such a way that they tend to receive lots of cash. Some have had nasty enough experiences with banks, electronic payments, or credit cards that they feel more comfortable dealing with something solid and visceral. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/33 "2010-01-31T12:22:21Z")
**Bruce Williams** has often spoken at length about people like this known as the “unbanked.” They usually are the clientèle of pay-day loan places, pawn shops and money orders. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/34 "2010-02-01T03:17:37Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Anyway they were pretty well payed, with weekly paychecks from 800 to 1500, it always amazed me when I went in there and there were 15 people in line waiting to cash pay checks from the little old guy at the back counter, 5 feet from the back door, out of his little green metal cash box. He must have had probably had somewhere between $25k-$35k in cash Friday afternoon, with no visible security anywhere.(I know not visible doesn’t mean there wasn’t any, but Most of the effect of security is to be visible as a deterrent.) But every couple weeks a gas station in the area got robbed for a couple hundred bucks. Criminals just are stupid I guess. It’s also possible criminals higher up the food chain made a point of keeping the place safe, so that large amounts of that cash could be funneled their way. There’s a section of my community that’s filled with strip clubs which has an incredibly low crime rate as far as muggings and carjacking, etc. go. The police will even admit it’s one of the safer places in the city to be drunk. Why? Because the people who own those strip clubs want their clubs filled with men buying lap dances and overpriced alcohol and anyone who is a threat to that is dealt with. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/35 "2010-02-01T13:54:23Z")
As a bank teller, I see a lot of poor-looking people just cashing checks. The business that we are, we try to get our non-customer check cashers to open accounts with us instead of just cashing and leaving. Well, I’ve learned that a lot of the poorer ones are on Check Systems because they’ve had too many accounts force closed (they kept overdrafting, wouldn’t put money in, so the account stayed very negative for too long, etc.). I’m not saying that some of them didn’t have legitimate, good reasons for overdrawing their account, but most of them just don’t understand the “I don’t have money in the account, I can’t write checks/use my debit card” principle. Then they get mad at us when they’re $400 in the hole because we didn’t personally call them to tell them the minute it went overdrawn. Guess I’m a bit frustrated with the people who think it’s the bank teller’s fault that they blew $300 at the casino --yes, I can tell because the ATM withdrawls say XXX Casino-- and now they have to pay overdraft fees. Don’t overdraw your account. You won’t have to pay fees. And don’t yell at the teller. It’s not my policy. It’s not my fault. Stop feeling so damn entitled, like the world owes you something. Sorry that turned into a mini-rant and slight hijack. But damn, that felt good to get it off my chest! ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/36 "2010-02-01T14:06:11Z")
> [@Getheren](#): > > Some people just prefer to deal in cash, for one reason or another. Some are living in the cash economy to be off of creditors’ radar; others have too-bad credit to get a checking account, or are working under the table for one reason or another. Some work in such a way that they tend to receive lots of cash. Some have had nasty enough experiences with banks, electronic payments, or credit cards that they feel more comfortable dealing with something solid and visceral. Privacy concerns are another reason why some people prefer to deal in cash. I’d rather my bank and credit card company not know exactly what I’m spending my money on, down to the minutest detail, so for most purchases I use cash. I pay with a debit or credit card only when ordering on the Internet, or when something is so expensive that it exceeds my daily ATM withdrawal limit. Besides, many small business retailers are happy to give a slight cash discount on large purchases, as this way they avoid bank and credit card fees. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/37 "2010-02-01T14:08:26Z")
I haven’t overdrawn a checking account in over 25 years (hey, I was 18, young, newly on my own… it happens). However, that said - WHY does my bank make it so damn difficult to get _rid of_ “overdraft protection” that I DON’T WANT? Seriously, have my card say “transaction denied” when there’s no money in the account. Really. I _want_ it to do that. Overdraft “protection” that winds up costing me money is a _protection racket_ as far as I’m concerned. After much repetition of I REALLY DO WANT THE OVERDRAFT PROTECTION TURNED OFF I got it turned off - only to receive notice shortly thereafter, in chirpy spin-doctor tones “You now have overdraft protection!”. NO, I DON’T WANT THAT. Seriously. What do I have to do to convince the bank that I want _no chance at all_ of an overdraft. Period. End of story. Can we take that off my account FOR GOOD? IF, Og forbid, I bounce a check it’s bad enough but overdraft “protection” that winds up costing me MORE than the bounced check itself (which is unlikely, as I write very few checks per month) is NO HELP AT ALL. Seriously, it just looks like a way to kick someone harder and faster when they’re down from my viewpoint. Why am I forced to have this? ---
**Author:** ![Modern-caveman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@Modern-caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Modern-caveman)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/38 "2010-02-01T14:31:49Z")
I carry about $50 cash on me most times. The rest I put on one of those pre-paid Visa debit cards to pay bills, recharge my phone minutes, etc… I have a bank account with nothing in it. I had some money there until child support took it. But I’m paying child support. It comes as a direct draw from my check. I never see it. Like Bob Dylan once sang, “Everybody must get stoned”. ---
**Author:** ![Bloody\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bloody\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloody_L)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/39 "2010-02-01T14:34:52Z")
I know a lot of people around here in my neck of the woods, get paid ‘under the table’ and only in cash. They work for building contracters or other businesses that don’t worry much about getting caught. It’s really common here, it’s not just our large immigrant population. But that’s Memphis for you. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980/40 "2010-02-01T15:18:18Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Privacy concerns are another reason why some people prefer to deal in cash. I’d rather my bank and credit card company not know exactly what I’m spending my money on, down to the minutest detail, so for most purchases I use cash. I thought about that when I was at the hardware store last year. I used my debit card to buy lye, along with seriously tough, chemical-grade goggles and long rubber gloves. As I was leaving the store, I realized [what it could look like](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methamphetamine#Illicit_production), and thought, “I better not buy any pseudoephedrine any time soon, or else the feds are going to show up on my doorstep.” I was buying the lye and protective gear to produce homemade cold process soap bars. For those not in the know, US pharmacies take your name and address if you buy pseudoephedrine and save that info for two years, and here in Illinois at least they check your driver’s license/state ID and enter that info into the database as well, IIRC. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-poor-people-bring-in-cash-to-make-payments/526980.md?page=3)