Petition for postal banking

See the petition here. The blurb:

Nearly 28% of U.S. households are underserved by traditional banks, and turn, instead, to payday lenders, check cashers and other financial predators – spending nearly 10 percent of their income on fees and services, on average. These services are part of an industry that rakes in $103 billion a year at the expense of the most financially vulnerable.

There is a simple solution: postal banking. The more than 30,000 branches of the U.S. Postal Service can provide affordable, nonprofit, consumer-driven financial services ranging from paycheck cashing and bill payment to savings accounts and small dollar loans.

The USPS is a well-trusted public institution that currently provides limited financial services such as money orders. The USPS can act now to:

Install surcharge-free ATMs that make it possible for recipients of public benefits to access funds without paying a fee;

Expand services to include payroll check cashing; and

Provide bill paying and electronic funds transfers.

For those without access to traditional banks as well as those looking for an alternative to the Big Banks, postal banking is a real solution that serves the public, not Wall Street. Call on the Postmaster General to implement postal banking now. We need a nonprofit banking option, and we need to strengthen and preserve the United States Postal Service.

To: Postmaster General Brennan

As Postmaster General, you can take concrete steps to make postal banking a reality. We, the undersigned, call on the Postal Service to provide at its more than 30,000 community-based post office branches:

• Paycheck Cashing,
• Surcharge free ATMs,
• Bill Paying Services, and
• Electronic Money Transfers

Postal banking is a win-win. The time to act is now.

A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service
Alliance for Retired Americans
American Postal Workers Union
Americans for Financial Reform
Brave New Films
Campaign for America's Future
Center for Effective Government
Commonomics USA
Consumer Action
Daily Kos
Deluge
Democracy for America
Farm Aid
Jobs With Justice
National People's Action
People Demanding Action
People for the American Way
Public Citizen
Social Security Works
United for a Fair Economy
USAction