The problem is that no one can afford to have a bank account with a small amount in it. Most of them require a minimum balance ($500-$1,000), and if you have less than that in it, they charge you a monthly fee that will quickly deplete the account. It really sucks. The days when you could open a savings account for your kid and let him deposit his allowance in it to teach him about interest are long gone. The only reason I could afford my first checking account was my college made a deal with HSBC to offer us special student accounts with no minimum balance.

One idea might be for him to open an account with an Internet bank. Netbank, or something like that. They tend to have lower minimums ($50), or none. He could transfer the money into the account from PayPal through online transactions, and withdraw it from an ATM. (There would be fees for using the ATM, but they'd be minor.)

But I'm not sure how easy it is to open an account with the online banks. I think they checked my credit history before they let me open an account.

Really, the easiest would be for a friend in the area who has a checking account to either open a PayPal account or accept and cash mailed checks for him. Maybe Bone can suggest someone trusthworthy, when he's out of the hospital.