Postal Banking Is Back — On Democratic Party Platforms — But Is It Viable?

Postal Banking, which Elizabeth Warren promoted back in 2014, is back on the Democratic Party agenda, or at least on the platform of several of its presidential candidates.

The revival of postal banking — the Post Office dropped savings account in 1967 because of a decline in deposits — has been based on two not always compatible concepts. In 2014 the Postal Service suggested it could make money from banking while still undercutting the usurious rates of payday lenders.

Democrats are advocating it as a way to help people who don’t have bank accounts and often fall victim to the high fees charged by payday lenders.