The next Chair of the Federal Reserve System (Fed) can take an immediate step to help low-income Americans by implementing real-time payments, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution. How the Fed Can Help Families Living Paycheck to Paycheck argues that for the high proportion of Americans with little or no savings, the time between paychecks can make it very expensive to be poor, driving low-income people to predatory lenders, check cashing services, and other pricey services. The Fed should require that checks be processed and cleared faster to ease costs to low-income families, according to the report.
