[JustLurking2022]

Honestly, the article rambled & ranted as much as it informed.

TL;DR: Check cashing exists because banks don't want to deal with people who deposit checks with a high risk profile (whether due to fraud or lack of funds by the payer). Unsurprisingly, this risk gets priced into the product.

Dealing with bounced checks from such people often involves behavior that most of a bank's customers would consider somewhere between impolite and disturbing. Also, many consumers of check cashing do not have state issued IDs and may not be up for dealing with KYC checks.

The situation has gotten somewhat better for low income people in that government benefits are delivered electronically, without needing to cash a check and some emerging electronic payment options may improve it further.