credit unions are typically designed only to cover a small geographic area (in my case, my home city and the surrounding counties)

and yes, I was looking into bank accounts for my new business and Bank of America charges a $25/month maintenance fee

I have a bank account here in Georgia that charges a $0.80/month fee which is more reasonable

Even the credit union I am with has IBAN and so does the shit bydlo bank for naive twats. Must because they are part of a huge chain that combines many Credit unions together. Sure, you have to dissolve your account if you are move to another region and open a new account in your new hometown if you want full service.

yeah, there's no such thing as a "credit union chain" in the U.S.

they're all independent operators

the trade-off of no minimum balance, no account maintenance fees etc. is that they skimp on services that big national banks have

At least its not either the only credit union (by brand) or retard bank for rural people like here.

a postal banking service in the U.S. would likely force banks to lower their fees and offer more services to compete

Hopefully so.

The best banks are online-only, like Captital One 360 or Ally. They have fantastic interest rates, no monthly fees, and are very convenient. Unfortunately those don't support international wires either.

BoA, Chase, and Wells Fargo are disasters who are always screwing over their customers. Smaller regional banks (PNC, SunTrust, etc) are mediocre, but probably your best bet for lower idiocy + international transfers.

Chances of postal banking in US = zero

Btw, they have that in Japan as well

why's there no chance of it

unrelated but HAHAHAHAHAHA: https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1105492031210688512

You are going against one of the most powerful lobby groups in the US. You have a better chance of forcing them to accept Elizabeth Warren style banking regulations

FUCK the universities

if there's a bad recession/depression around the bend, that will make radical steps like postal banking more palatable

since the banks will likely do what they did ten years ago: fuck everyone below them while begging for government handouts

I don't think they get a pass next time, but to actually create a nationalized competitor, I don't think so

I do think they get squeezed in a lot of different ways

the fact that the U.S. has had a postal banking system before buttresses the argument for recreating it, unlike the UBI which has never been tried on the federal level

North Dakota also has a state-owned bank that is stable and useful for citizens of that state

And the fact that postal banking works around the world while UBI doesn't.

I'm surprised we don't have more state banks.

the Bank of North Dakota nearly collapsed after World War I

also, private banks initially refused to work with it

that scared a lot of people off from doing it in other states

the Bank's collapse was so bad that it led to the governor being recalled, the first time that ever happened in U.S. history

Postal banking or state banking could also be a good response for when private banks start deplatforming people for random reasons.

Right now it's just a few of the big banks who can afford it, but it'll spread.

right now, the Bank of North Dakota offers personal checking and savings accounts, but no ATM cards, debit cards etc.

you also have to conduct all business at their sole physical location in Bismarck

You seem pretty sure a postal bank won't deplatform you, I don't share your optimism

this would have to change; I can see libertarians in Congress trying to force a hypothetical Postal Bank to restrict the number of services it is allowed to offer as to not "harm" private banks

@phinami It'd be a violation of the First amendment, being government run. Private banks can get away with it right now.

@phinami AmRen holds their yearly conference at a state park in Tennessee because they're legally forbidden from turning away customers on the basis of political opinion, I assume a national bank would work the same way

what Cynic in Chief said

Especially since the only way IMO to get such a thing is if the political left take more power and they tend to use power against their enemies

* that dirty feeling defending banksters *