Given that about 10% of the US has no debit bank account and they aren't dying, that seems like an exaggeration. You can walk into a paycheck cashing service and walk out with a card that can be used anywhere a credit card is accepted without ever opening a bank account. You have to pay to do so, which seems rather regressive considering it's mostly the less affluent who end up in that situation, but it's not life-ending.
That previous comment is a "tell me you've never been declined for a financial service before without telling me" kind of thing; I had to shop for a week to find a bank that would give me a checking account.
Not sure what you mean, I got declined by a dozen of banks. And where I live (France) it's illegal for me to receive my salary in cash or to pay rent in cash: both are above the limit for cash transactions. Even if I personally was open to breaking the law,
my employer and my landlord obviously aren't.
To compensate for that there's a "right for an account" law but it doesn't work that well.
I think the US/EU distinction is the main disconnect. Anyone in the US can take a (paper) paycheck to a cashing service and, for about 2% of the value of the check, receive the cash for it. They can usually walk into the office of their landlord (or property manager) and pay in cash.
I sold an RV for nearly $10k and the buyer paid in cash.
Other than my mortgage payment, I have never paid for something via a bank transfer. Merchants take credit cards and services provided by individuals (e.g. piano teacher) take check or cash.
This article is about the US banking system, and that's where my experience is. Nobody in the US with any experience of financial precarity believes a checking account is a human right, because checking accounts are routinely denied to people without established credit. Which makes a kind of sense: they are credit products.
