1.   Banks have tried to battle back with everything from fingerprinting to retina scanning devices to ensure the identities of check cashers.

2.   According to Backman, check cashers charge much lower fees than banks on money orders, a popular item in low-income neighborhoods.

3.   Check cashers have benefited from the consolidation of an increasingly electronic banking industry with its minimum balance requirements and rising fees for individual account holders and ATM users.

4.   Consumer groups are as outraged with the federal government as with the check cashers and banks.

5.   Hammond acknowledged that the federal government is concerned about the alliances between check cashers and banks.

6.   In some urban areas, check cashers, pawn shops and rent-to-own franchises outnumber banks according to Stith.

7.   In some locations, the check cashers are located practically next door to banks.

8.   The deal came less than a week after Congress revamped US regulation of banks, brokerages, insurance companies, and check cashers.

9.   The problem for banks, supermarkets and other check cashers is that technology has spawned new and inexpensive methods to counterfeit both checks and ID cards.

10.   Unfortunately, the people who use check cashers are folks who can least afford to do so, the consumer groups said.