Walmart expands banking

 

walmartWalmart Stores have taken another step into banking, unveiling a no fee electronic cheque account aimed at simplifying money management for customers without traditional bank accounts.

Walmart, collaborating with Green Dot, a provider of pre-paid debit cards, said the new GoBank account grants users a debt card and the ability to make electronic check payments to Walmart, other retailers, and individuals.

But while traditional cheque accounts frequently levy various fees, especially on overdrafts and sub-minimum balances, the GoBank account eliminates those.

And a monthly $US8.95 membership cost is waived if consumers have their pay of at least $US500 a month paid directly into the account.

The venture also plans to provide paper cheques, said a Green Dot spokeswoman.

Participants will be able to store larger savings in a federally insured “money vault,” but the savings will not receive interest.

The venture aims to serve a market of lower income consumers who lack access to traditional banks, because the fees are too high or they don’t qualify for accounts.

Green Dot describes itself as “a technology-centric, pro-consumer bank holding company with a mission to reinvent personal banking for the masses”.

The venture will not screen potential customers by their credit ratings, instead it will use “proprietary underwriting techniques to allow almost any consumer who passes ID verification to open an account”.

The product has been launched in about 2000 Walmart stores in the US, with the remaining 2200 stores due to offer it by the end of October.

The venture follows other moves by Walmart into banking, including a prepaid debit card venture with American Express and various bill pay, cheque cashing and money order services.

AFP

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