Bits About Money: “…One of the reasons I covered the checks as a payment method recently was to lay the groundwork for talking about some of the fascinating alternative financial world around them. In the main, this helps people at the socioeconomic margins turn payroll and other checks into cash (or otherwise immediately spendable value) in return for a fee. This is not how you, reader, probably deal with checks, and the existence of this industry / product have been controversial for many years. Hopefully you’ll soon understand why, and why it persists in existing and its customers persist in using it. A note at the top: check cashing is distinct from payday loans, despite overlapping customer bases, overlapping retail presences, and the centrality of checks to both enterprises…”