Walmart’s money transfer services have saved its customers more than $2.4 billion in fees since launching in 2014, the retail giant said on Tuesday (Oct. 5).
At the time of its launch, Walmart2Walmart offered transfer fees that were 50% lower than its competitors, which led those companies to set lower fees, the press release said.
Walmart argues the savings it has provided actually totals $6 billion when factoring in the roughly $4 billion saved by people who received discount transfer rates from the chain’s competition.
“At Walmart, we have the opportunity to solve problems for our customers. Staying true to Walmart’s Everyday Low Price commitment, we’ve been able to make change in the financial services industry for the better,” said Janey Whiteside, chief customer officer, Walmart US. “We’ve enabled family members and loved ones, those underrepresented customers that are un- and under-banked, to move money to one another quickly for much lower fees than ever before. The number of customers who benefited from these decreased fees is even higher when you consider that both sender and receiver are our neighbors and Walmart shoppers.”
Walmart points to 2019 figures from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that showed an estimated 7.1 million unbanked households in America. In 2017, 48.9 million adults were underbanked, which means they had a checking or savings account but used products or services outside of the banking system for their financial needs.
Read more: USPS Debuts Paycheck-Cashing Services
Walmart’s announcement came one day after the rollout of another effort to reach unbanked Americans: the U.S. Postal Service’s paycheck cashing service, which was unveiled at post offices in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., the Bronx and Falls Church, Virginia.
The pilot program, which lets customers cash checks in exchange for Visa gift cards up to $500, is expected to expand into a wider-ranging study with new locations and financial products, such as bill-paying services and ATMs.
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