Being poor in the United States is not a good business.
It is, in fact, much more expensive .
A large part of the 40.6 million people living in poverty in the world's first power must pay more than the rest of the population to access goods and services that most enjoy daily and, often, free of charge .
Very few low-income families have savings for emergency situations, and more than two-thirds of them say they have problems getting $ 2,000 in a month to face unexpected urgent expenses such as a broken water heater or a medical bill. illustrate the situation of vulnerability in which these families live.
400% interest :
Many of the difficulties they face from the fact that they can not count on extra savings.
When poor families face these emergencies and do not have other options, they tend to resort to fast-loan companies, which can make their situation worse.
In doing so, they expose themselves to being trapped in a cycle of debt with no exit, in which they have to pay interest rates of 400% , an unimaginable figure for those who have credit cards or access to other forms of credit,
Also due to a lack of capital, they often resort to furniture and household furniture rental companies to provide their homes with basic equipment such as a washing machine or a computer.
These companies know that you have no other options and they take advantage of you. A family can end up paying 2.5 times more for the real cost of these goods without ever owning them.
Expensive market :
By not having a car many of these families have to choose between spending money in taxis to go and return to a good supermarket or end up paying the higher prices charged by the grocery store that is close to home, where the products can cost you four or five times more than if you buy them wholesale.
And these poor families not only pay more than others for everyday expenses, but also lose opportunities to save by not having the resources to take advantage of wholesale stores that allow consumers to obtain substantial discounts on their purchases.
Pay for being poor :
The lack of savings also makes it difficult for poor families to enjoy the advantages of the banking system.
In the United States there are some 10 million households in which none of its members has a bank account and most of them are poor.
People with low incomes are much more likely to have to pay commissions for maintaining a bank account. In many cases, in order to avoid having to pay these commissions -which generally fluctuate between US $ 10 and US $ 25 per month depending on the account- financial institutions demand that clients have an average daily balance of US $ 1,500, an amount that can be equivalent to the monthly income of a poor household .
"If you do not have that amount deposited, you can end up paying commissions simply because you do not have enough money, that is, they literally charge you for being poor, and that does not include the charges you get if your account is overdrawn. $ 25 or US $ 35 additional ", adds the expert.
Commissions everywhere :
But staying away from banks is also very expensive.
Those who do not have accounts should go to a check-casher , a type of business very widespread in the poor neighborhoods of the United States to which people can go to cash the check with which they were paid their salary and where they can be charged a commission that can reach up to 5% of the total amount.
That may sound like little, but if you're a low-income person who earns, say, $ 1,500 a month, that means you can end up paying $ 75 a month just to collect your salary.
But the expenses do not end there, then, to meet the rent payment of their homes and any other bill for services such as electricity or water have to buy some payment orders, which cost US $ 1.5 for each one.
These things can also sound like little, but if you are a low-income family, you can end up paying US $ 1,850 a year for basic financial services that people who have bank accounts enjoy every day.
A possible solution for this situation would be for members of these families to try to find better jobs.
However, it is not easy to escape from low-paid jobs , according to Barbara Ehrenreich, author of the book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (translated in Spain as Por cuatro duros.) How (not) to get it in the United States ).
During the investigation for that text, the writer assumed jobs as a waitress, cleaning worker, hotel concierge, supermarket salesperson, among others.
"What I discovered is that these jobs are a lot of a trap: they pay so little that you can not even earn about $ 200 to help you make the transition to better paid jobs ." They often do not give you control over your work schedule, making it impossible for you to make arrangements for taking care of your children or taking a second job, "Ehrenreich said in an article for The Atlantic .
Thus, being poor in the United States not only turns out to be somewhat costly but also a situation from which it is difficult to escape.