Low income consumers without bank accounts have been charged exorbitantly high fees by banks and other financial institutions to put cash onto “stored value” credit cards, but now Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and American Express (NYSE: AXP) are hoping to provide low income customers a lower-fee choice for stored value cards.
Wal-Mart has slowly rolled out its “money services” at its stores over the last several years by offering some low cost financial services such as money orders, money grams, and check cashing. Now Wal-Mart is offering the ability for its customers to take their paycheck to Wal-Mart and deposit it onto a stored value card for just $3.00. The card that the consumer will receive is Visa branded and can be used anywhere that accepts Visa, not just Wal-Mart.
American Express has offered its own version of stored-value cards that has put a focus on minimizing fees for consumers making it a viable option for the unbanked.
These two options are excellent for low-income consumers that are unbanked. In some urban areas, consumers without banks are forced to rely on shady check-cashing services that charge high-fees. In some high-crime urban areas, criminals will wait for consumers to walk out of these check-cashing places and take the entirety of their victim’s paycheck at gun point!
Wal-Mart and American Express are offering unbanked consumers a much better and safer option than they had previously available to them through these news services. Consumers in high-crime areas can now get their checks cashed without worrying about being mugged and will also no longer have to pay significant fees just to make use of their own money.
