New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is praising the announcement from the U.S. Postal Service that they have launched a pilot program to offer customers financial services.
USPS is testing the program at just four post offices on the East Coast. It will enable individuals to deposit payroll or business checks of up to $500 onto a single-use debit card for a flat fee of $5.95.
Gillibrand has long pushed for her legislation, the Postal Banking Act, which would create a postal bank to provide low-cost basic financial services to people who simply do not have access, or have limited access, to America’s banking system.
The Postal Banking Act would strengthen the Postal Service by establishing a nonprofit bank offering low-cost checking and savings accounts, ATMs, mobile banking, and low-interest loans. According to a report from the USPS Inspector General, this proposal would create up to $9 billion in revenue for the Postal Service each year.
Postal management worked with the American Postal Workers Union to set up the pilot. APWU has also long advocated for postal banking, including by negotiating it into a previous collective bargaining agreement. The union is hopeful that USPS will expand the pilot in early 2022, both in terms of services offered and locations where they are available. USPS offered banking services for more than 50 years, but stopped in 1967.
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