Chicago's Urban Partnership Bank is taking on the currency exchanges and payday lenders with new check-cashing and prepaid-card services for individuals who aren't bank customers. The services come at prices well below those of typical currency exchanges -- check cashing will be over 30 percent cheaper. The bank will charge 1.25 percent to cash Social Security checks, paychecks, tax refund payments and the like, compared to 2 percent at many currency exchanges. “We work to give people great value but make a nominal profit while doing so,” said Darryl Hendricks, the bank's director of consumer banking.