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The Uberization Of Money

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How technology will change the banking system. We’ll look at the uberization of money.

Receptionist Erin Gamboa holds her Green Dot prepaid debit card Tuesday June 14, 2011 in Monrovia, Calif. Gamboa closed her Chase bank account last December, frustrated the bank's high fees, and later became one of the 3.4 million Green Dot users. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Receptionist Erin Gamboa holds her Green Dot prepaid debit card Tuesday June 14, 2011 in Monrovia, Calif. Gamboa closed her Chase bank account last December, frustrated the bank's high fees, and later became one of the 3.4 million Green Dot users. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Once upon a time, banks had money in vaults and you went there when you needed yours. Now money is tracked in zipping digits and many people never set foot in banks at all. Next trend: bank branches go obsolete, millennials and more ditch their banks for third-party tech services, the ATM goes the way of the phone booth and money gets “Uberized.” Need a loan?  Want to lend? Want to invest in a hot start-up? Stash your cash? There’s an app for that, and a lot more. A sharing economy ready to move money. This hour On Point —  banking gets apped.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Zachary Karabell, head of global strategy at Envestnest, a financial services firm. Author of "The Leading Indicators." (@zacharykarabell)

Mehrsa Baradaran, professor of law at the University of Georgia School of Law. Author of "How The Other Half Banks." (@MehrsaBaradaran)

From Tom’s Reading List

The Wall Street Journal: The Uberization of Money — "Over the next decade, the familiar 20th-century modes of banking and investing will give way to something very different. We are on the verge of the Uberization of finance, which will bring multiple new opportunities but also a range of new risks.

Boston Globe: It’s expensive to be poor -- "It's expensive to be poor. That’s what more than 16 million Americans learn every time they try to cash their paychecks, settle a bill, or swipe a debit card. They pay high fees and fines for financial services most of us take for granted, and they submit to usurious interest rates that keep them trapped in a deep well of debt. They are 'the unbanked' — Americans operating in an alternate economy without access to basic financial tools and with little protection from scammers."

The Atlantic: If the U.S. Government Treated Poor People as Well as It Treats Banks — "One of the great ironies in modern America is that the less money you have, the more you pay to use it. The country’s 'unbanked' must pay high fees to fringe banks to turn their paychecks into cash, pay their monthly bills, or send money to a spouse or a child. The unbanked pay much of their income—up to 10 percent—just to use their money. For these families, the total price of simple financial services each month is more than they spend on food. Indeed, it is very expensive to be poor."

This program aired on November 17, 2015.

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