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Banks are failing the middle class. That's Lisa Servon's argument in her new book, "The Unbanking of America."

Fees of all kinds are rising — monthly fees, yearly fees, overdraft fees — and the traditional banking system is no longer meeting the needs of Americans who live paycheck-to-paycheck, Servon says.

Servon, who is a professor of City Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, studied banking alternatives while researching her book — and she studied them up close. She worked as a teller at a check cashing business in the Bronx, and at a payday loan business in Oakland, Calif.

She interviewed Americans making use of informal loans and other nontraditional options.

Publishers Weekly likened Servon's immersion in the world of alternative banking to what Barbara Ehrenreich did with low-wage jobs in the econ classic, "Nickel and Dimed." 

Servon joined MPR News guest host Chris Farrell to talk about the choices people are making with their money, and how the industry is adapting to modern financial realities.

For the full conversation with Lisa Servon on "The Unbanking of America," use the audio player above.

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The traditional banking system is no longer meeting the needs of Americans who live paycheck-to-paycheck, Lisa Servon argues in her new book.

Lisa Servon argues that America's credit and banking institutions are broken. Her new book "The Unbanking of America" is about the Americans who live paycheck to paycheck and how banks as she writes "don't work for them."

'The Unbanking of America': When banks aren't the best option

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