PAiN
07-29-2014, 03:27 PM
For those that haven't seen this. Walmart now offers a Walmart to Walmart money transfer service that is way cheaper than Moneygram or Western union. This was from April 17th so the new service is available now.
Walmart Launches Money Transfer Service Between Stores, Competing With Western Union
4/17/2014
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/clareoconnor/files/2014/03/WalmartPhoto.jpg
Walmart has unveiled a new store-to-store money transfer service launching later this month, aimed at helping its customers send cash to loved ones and directly competing with outfits like Western Union .
The new service will also compete with Walmart’s current in-store money transfer service, operated by MoneyGram, fueling speculation over the future of their contract.
‘Walmart-2-Walmart’ will be operated by Ria Financial Services, a subsidiary of established electronic payments company Euronet.
It’ll allow shoppers to transfer money to and from 4,000 Walmart stores nationwide for up to 50% less than competitors, according to research by the store chain.
“Walmart-2-Walmart offers a clear fee structure with just two pricing tiers: customers can transfer up to $50 for $4.50 and up to $900 for $9.50,” said Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services for Walmart, on a call to investors, analysts and press on Thursday morning.
Walmart’s latest initiative is savvy given the latest figures released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), revealing one in four U.S. households are “unbanked or underbanked,” meaning they don’t have a checking or savings account with a bank or credit union.
Unbanked households tend to be low-income or in areas with high poverty rates, says the U.S. Census Bureau. Many rely on costly alternative financial services, like short-term, high-interest “payday loans” offered by companies targeting those on the fringes of the banking system.
This isn’t Walmart’s first foray into financial services.
The world’s largest retailer operates Walmart MoneyCenters, both online and in-store. Shoppers can cash checks for $3 at their local Walmart, while they can manage their reloadable Walmart MoneyCard, a prepaid Visa or Mastercard, on the internet.
In 2012, the big box chain announced an alternative to traditional debit and checking accounts in partnership with American Express, called Bluebird.
Bluebird accounts target consumers who are fed up with increasing fees from traditional bank accounts. They have no minimum balance requirement and no monthly maintenance, annual or activation fee. Customers can access their money for free using one of 22,000 American Express MoneyPass ATMs, but will be hit with a $2 fee if they are not enrolled in direct deposit.
MoneyGram could not be reached for comment at press time. Walmart renewed its contract with the money transfer outfit for its in-store services in 2012. Fees start at $4.75. Walmart also offers online money transfer via Xoom; fees for that service start at $4.99.
Walmart To Offer Money Wire Tranfer
APRIL 17, 2014
In a move that threatens to upend another piece of the financial services industry, Walmart, the country’s largest retailer, announced on Thursday that it would allow customers to make store-to-store money transfers within the United States at cut-rate fees.
This latest offer, aimed largely at lower-income shoppers who often rely on places like check-cashing stores for simple transactions, represents another effort by the giant retailer to carve out a space in territory that once belonged exclusively to traditional banks.
In this instance, competitors like longtime wire-transfer companies were the immediate target: MoneyGram’s stock fell more than 17 percent on the news; Western Union’s went down about 5 percent.
Walmart has become a big player in alternative financial products, especially those that cater to people with little or no access to banks, like prepaid debit cards, check cashing and now, the new cash transfer program, called “Walmart-2-Walmart.”
Lower-income consumers have been a core demographic for Walmart, but in recent quarters those shoppers have turned increasingly to dollar stores.
“Walmart-2-Walmart leverages our existing footprint and the large-scale systems that our company can bring to bear to enable a low-cost service such as this,” said Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services for Walmart United States.
More than 29 percent of households in the United States did not have a savings account in 2011, and about 10 percent of households did not have a checking account, according to a study sponsored by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. And while alternative financial products give consumers access to services they might otherwise be denied, people who are shut out of the traditional banking system sometimes find themselves paying high fees for transactions as basic as cashing a check.
Alternatives to banks have sprung up in many unlikely places in recent years. Costco offers mortgages, for example, and Home Depot provides loans to help customers finance improvement projects. Walmart actually sought a banking charter for years before abandoning the effort in 2007.
“In many cases, these services crop up in response to demand, but it’s also a space that’s less regulated,” said Suzanne Martindale, a staff lawyer at Consumers Union, an advocacy group. “There may be weak protections or a patchwork of protections.”
Walmart said that its new service, especially for larger money transfers, will be cheaper than the alternatives. Transfers of up to $50 will cost $4.50 and transfers of up to $900 — the maximum amount customers can send in a day — will cost $9.50.
According to a fee estimator on Western Union’s website, sending $900 within the United States could cost as much as $76 when done in person. MoneyGram’s website estimated that the same transaction would cost $73.
Walmart already offered customers a way to transfer money in its stores, through a partnership with MoneyGram. Unlike Walmart-2-Walmart, MoneyGram does not have a $900 limit and it allows for transfers to other countries.
Mr. Eckert said using MoneyGram would remain an option for Walmart customers. In its annual report, MoneyGram said that Walmart accounted for 27 percent of its total fee and investment revenue last year.
Financial services make up a relatively small portion of Walmart’s overall revenue, and some analysts said the wire transfer program could ultimately be more consequential for other wire-transfer companies like MoneyGram and Western Union than the retailer.
Michelle Buckalew, a spokeswoman at MoneyGram, said in a statement that the company would not change its own prices in response to Walmart’s announcement.
In a statement, Western Union said that domestic money transfers accounted for only about 8 percent of the company’s revenue in 2013. Both Western Union and MoneyGram pointed out that they had hundreds of thousands of affiliated locations globally. Walmart has more than 4,000 stores in the United States.
Ria Money Transfer, a subsidiary of the payment company Euronet Worldwide, will be Walmart’s partner for this program.
Last week, Walmart said it would begin selling organic pantry items, like tomato paste and apple sauce, for the same price as comparable nonorganic items, undercutting organic competitors. Given Walmart’s size and the quantities of its orders, that initiative is likely to have far-reaching effects on the price of organic ingredients for years to come.
All of Walmart’s U.S. stores, including its smaller, neighborhood market stores, will begin offering the in-house money transfer service on April 24.
Faye Landes, an analyst at the Cowen Group, said that since customers on both the sending and the receiving end of these payments would have to be physically in Walmart’s stores, they might do a little shopping while there.
“This and the organic initiative are large-scale efforts both to drive traffic and to make a statement that they have very, very low prices on things people care about,” Ms. Landes said. “They’ve had five straight quarters of negative traffic in the U.S., so every little bit helps.”
Mr. Eckert of Walmart said that the program was not aimed at increasing traffic in stores, but acknowledged that it was a possibility.
Walmart Launches Money Transfer Service Between Stores, Competing With Western Union
4/17/2014
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/clareoconnor/files/2014/03/WalmartPhoto.jpg
Walmart has unveiled a new store-to-store money transfer service launching later this month, aimed at helping its customers send cash to loved ones and directly competing with outfits like Western Union .
The new service will also compete with Walmart’s current in-store money transfer service, operated by MoneyGram, fueling speculation over the future of their contract.
‘Walmart-2-Walmart’ will be operated by Ria Financial Services, a subsidiary of established electronic payments company Euronet.
It’ll allow shoppers to transfer money to and from 4,000 Walmart stores nationwide for up to 50% less than competitors, according to research by the store chain.
“Walmart-2-Walmart offers a clear fee structure with just two pricing tiers: customers can transfer up to $50 for $4.50 and up to $900 for $9.50,” said Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services for Walmart, on a call to investors, analysts and press on Thursday morning.
Walmart’s latest initiative is savvy given the latest figures released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), revealing one in four U.S. households are “unbanked or underbanked,” meaning they don’t have a checking or savings account with a bank or credit union.
Unbanked households tend to be low-income or in areas with high poverty rates, says the U.S. Census Bureau. Many rely on costly alternative financial services, like short-term, high-interest “payday loans” offered by companies targeting those on the fringes of the banking system.
This isn’t Walmart’s first foray into financial services.
The world’s largest retailer operates Walmart MoneyCenters, both online and in-store. Shoppers can cash checks for $3 at their local Walmart, while they can manage their reloadable Walmart MoneyCard, a prepaid Visa or Mastercard, on the internet.
In 2012, the big box chain announced an alternative to traditional debit and checking accounts in partnership with American Express, called Bluebird.
Bluebird accounts target consumers who are fed up with increasing fees from traditional bank accounts. They have no minimum balance requirement and no monthly maintenance, annual or activation fee. Customers can access their money for free using one of 22,000 American Express MoneyPass ATMs, but will be hit with a $2 fee if they are not enrolled in direct deposit.
MoneyGram could not be reached for comment at press time. Walmart renewed its contract with the money transfer outfit for its in-store services in 2012. Fees start at $4.75. Walmart also offers online money transfer via Xoom; fees for that service start at $4.99.
Walmart To Offer Money Wire Tranfer
APRIL 17, 2014
In a move that threatens to upend another piece of the financial services industry, Walmart, the country’s largest retailer, announced on Thursday that it would allow customers to make store-to-store money transfers within the United States at cut-rate fees.
This latest offer, aimed largely at lower-income shoppers who often rely on places like check-cashing stores for simple transactions, represents another effort by the giant retailer to carve out a space in territory that once belonged exclusively to traditional banks.
In this instance, competitors like longtime wire-transfer companies were the immediate target: MoneyGram’s stock fell more than 17 percent on the news; Western Union’s went down about 5 percent.
Walmart has become a big player in alternative financial products, especially those that cater to people with little or no access to banks, like prepaid debit cards, check cashing and now, the new cash transfer program, called “Walmart-2-Walmart.”
Lower-income consumers have been a core demographic for Walmart, but in recent quarters those shoppers have turned increasingly to dollar stores.
“Walmart-2-Walmart leverages our existing footprint and the large-scale systems that our company can bring to bear to enable a low-cost service such as this,” said Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services for Walmart United States.
More than 29 percent of households in the United States did not have a savings account in 2011, and about 10 percent of households did not have a checking account, according to a study sponsored by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. And while alternative financial products give consumers access to services they might otherwise be denied, people who are shut out of the traditional banking system sometimes find themselves paying high fees for transactions as basic as cashing a check.
Alternatives to banks have sprung up in many unlikely places in recent years. Costco offers mortgages, for example, and Home Depot provides loans to help customers finance improvement projects. Walmart actually sought a banking charter for years before abandoning the effort in 2007.
“In many cases, these services crop up in response to demand, but it’s also a space that’s less regulated,” said Suzanne Martindale, a staff lawyer at Consumers Union, an advocacy group. “There may be weak protections or a patchwork of protections.”
Walmart said that its new service, especially for larger money transfers, will be cheaper than the alternatives. Transfers of up to $50 will cost $4.50 and transfers of up to $900 — the maximum amount customers can send in a day — will cost $9.50.
According to a fee estimator on Western Union’s website, sending $900 within the United States could cost as much as $76 when done in person. MoneyGram’s website estimated that the same transaction would cost $73.
Walmart already offered customers a way to transfer money in its stores, through a partnership with MoneyGram. Unlike Walmart-2-Walmart, MoneyGram does not have a $900 limit and it allows for transfers to other countries.
Mr. Eckert said using MoneyGram would remain an option for Walmart customers. In its annual report, MoneyGram said that Walmart accounted for 27 percent of its total fee and investment revenue last year.
Financial services make up a relatively small portion of Walmart’s overall revenue, and some analysts said the wire transfer program could ultimately be more consequential for other wire-transfer companies like MoneyGram and Western Union than the retailer.
Michelle Buckalew, a spokeswoman at MoneyGram, said in a statement that the company would not change its own prices in response to Walmart’s announcement.
In a statement, Western Union said that domestic money transfers accounted for only about 8 percent of the company’s revenue in 2013. Both Western Union and MoneyGram pointed out that they had hundreds of thousands of affiliated locations globally. Walmart has more than 4,000 stores in the United States.
Ria Money Transfer, a subsidiary of the payment company Euronet Worldwide, will be Walmart’s partner for this program.
Last week, Walmart said it would begin selling organic pantry items, like tomato paste and apple sauce, for the same price as comparable nonorganic items, undercutting organic competitors. Given Walmart’s size and the quantities of its orders, that initiative is likely to have far-reaching effects on the price of organic ingredients for years to come.
All of Walmart’s U.S. stores, including its smaller, neighborhood market stores, will begin offering the in-house money transfer service on April 24.
Faye Landes, an analyst at the Cowen Group, said that since customers on both the sending and the receiving end of these payments would have to be physically in Walmart’s stores, they might do a little shopping while there.
“This and the organic initiative are large-scale efforts both to drive traffic and to make a statement that they have very, very low prices on things people care about,” Ms. Landes said. “They’ve had five straight quarters of negative traffic in the U.S., so every little bit helps.”
Mr. Eckert of Walmart said that the program was not aimed at increasing traffic in stores, but acknowledged that it was a possibility.