Posted on 11/08/2011 4:12:30 PM PST by Cardhu
DICKSON CITY, Pa. — Americans say they are fed up with banks. They are protesting on Wall Street and raising a ruckus over outsize fees. Now there is a surprising beneficiary: Wal-Mart.
Geoffrey Cardone, a 26-year-old factory worker, said he dumped his bank account because he felt that he was being nickeled and dimed by fees. His new payday ritual includes a trip to the Wal-Mart here in northeastern Pennsylvania.
“It’s cheaper,” said Mr. Cardone, who was charged a flat fee of $3 to cash his paycheck. Many check-cashing stores keep a percentage of the check, which tends to be higher.
The Wal-Mart here has a clerk in a brightly painted Money Center near the entrance, like more than 1,000 other Wal-Marts across the country. Customers can cash work and government checks, pay bills, wire money overseas or load money on to a prepaid debit card. At most Wal-Marts without dedicated Money Centers, the financial services are available at the customer service desks or kiosks.
Four years ago, Wal-Mart abandoned its plans to obtain a long-sought federal bank charter amid opposition from the banking industry and lawmakers, who feared the huge retailer would drive small bankers out of business and potentially conflate its banking and retail operations. Ever since, Wal-Mart has been quietly building up à la carte financial services, becoming a force among the unbanked and “unhappily banked,” as one Wal-Mart executive put it.
Even before the recent outcry against banks, the services had become popular with cash-poor customers, many of whom never had a bank account and found the services more affordable than traditional check-cashing operations. Now newcomers to the ranks of the banking disaffected are helping to swell the numbers, Wal-Mart officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I agree, and the bankers stopped them from becoming a chartered bank with their bought and paid for congress critters - now the same bankers are crying because they are not under the same rules as a bank.
I agree, and the bankers stopped them from becoming a chartered bank with their bought and paid for congress critters - now the same bankers are crying because they are not under the same rules as a bank.
...and I hope Wally World sticks it to the banks who insist on charging confiscatory fees for every little thing. It’s past being a bad joke. I belong to a credit union; they’re great, zip for fees, etc. Why anyone would deal with a traditional bank any more is beyond me.
It costs banked $200 to $250 a year to operate a checking account. There’s no free lunch.
“When Wal-Mart asked those people how much their banking activities cost them over the last six months, the answer was between $200 and $400, Mr. Eckert said, with overdraft fees, minimum-balance charges and so forth.”
Bouncing checks is not the fault of the bank in most cases
I haven’t dealt with a bank in years. I’ve found credit unions to be a much more desirable place to do business
“It costs banked $200 to $250 a year to operate a checking account. There’s no free lunch”
That sounds more like atm fees than checking fees. Some folks don’t read the rules on atm and debit cards
It costs banked $200 to $250 a year to operate a checking account. There’s no free lunch.”””
I write 5 or 7 checks a month. I get my SS as an electronic deposit.
I take out money from the bank’s ATM...usually just one ATM trip a month. After paying bills & getting $100 cash for the month for groceries, I am lucky to have $10 left over.
Explain to me how that costs the bank between $200 & 250.
I am a life long bookkeeper. Make your story a detailed & accurate one, please.
I have never used a debit card, either.
Just like some people shouldn’t buy houses, some people shouldn’t have bank accounts.
If someone is living paycheck-to-paycheck, and drawing down balances to single digits every week, they are ripe for an error which cascades into hundreds of dollars of charges.
You can cash your paycheck at Walmart for $3 and pay your g&e and comcast bill for about a buck each. Money orders are cheap. No overdrafts, no stress, no nonsense.
It’s not like anyone is earning any interest on bank deposits anyway.
If WalMart thinks it wants to get into the banking business, charge on ahead.
Most of the "failed" banks would still be here today had they not accepted federal deposit insurance and thus the obligation to serve people unworthy of credit.
If WalMart thinks it wants to be a bank, I say that is fine with me.
WalMart's credit rating is better than that of the U.S. Government, so why not?
Cool if you want your money in $20s.
It costs the bank, I meant to say, $200 to $250 a year to offer a checking account. These accounts are usually free. The ATM fees and overdraft fees is how the banks cover the costs of “free” checking.
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