When you don't have much, and opportunity is fleeting, you tend to grab and implement, quickly.
If you get a windfall, but don't have a bank account, you spend it quickly. Hanging onto it, could actually be very dangerous, or at least, increase the likelihood of having it taken away.
>but don't have a bank account
Plenty of bank accounts are free to open. That's not an excuse.
Many poor folks think decades ahead, but they tend to be rather fatalistic.
When I lived in Africa, I was profoundly affected by the poverty I witnessed, and also, by the integrity and kindness of many very poor people.
Also, many bank accounts require things like state ID, credit-worthiness, etc., that are hard for poor folks to get.
This is not required if the person is a minor. And acquiring one is cheap.
>credit-worthiness
No bank will require the user to be credit worthy for a basic checking account.
> If something goes wrong in this process—the overwhelmingly most likely one is that the payer doesn’t have the funds to cover the check (NSF, or “insufficient funds”), but the check being fraudulent or unauthorized is also possible—that wrongness may not be discovered before money “moves” to your bank. And so that payment can be recalled from your bank to the bank the check is drawn on. This will likely result in the bank attempting to recall the money from your account.
> And so by presenting your check, which you think is substantially terminating a transaction, you are actually creating a new credit extension with your bank. They are extremely aware that you just asked them to advance you money, even if you are not aware that you did that. They already partially underwrote this extension of credit; that is why you were not shooed out of the building when you originally asked for a checking account.