Walmart wants to double as your bank.
The retail giant is now pitching a revamped program for you to load your direct deposit paycheck onto a prepaid Walmart debit card. You can spend what's called the MoneyCard around the store and get cash back, and also get checks printed to pay the rent.
"Whenever the bank shuts down at 5 or 6 o clock or on the weekend, you can be like 'oh, wait I'll still go to Walmart and handle my finances,'" said Joshua Gonzalez, of Imperial Beach.
But the program does come with fees - and the question is, do they cancel out the added convenience for people who shop at Walmart?
Walmart charges $5 a month if you have less than $1,000 in your account. That's a bit less than half of what the big banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Chase charge - and they generally require $1,500 to waive the fee.
Walmart also charges you to deposit your cash into your account at one of its registers.
Other charges - like $2.50 for using a non-walmart ATM - are about equal to what the big banks charge for using a competitors cash machine.
The website Nerdwallet ranks some top options for prepaid debit cards with little to no fees.
It says Bluebird by American Express has no monthly fees and a free ATM network. And the Movo virtual prepaid Visa Card allows instant transfer between your cards.
A spokeswoman for Walmart says the company recently added a savings account like feature that will enter people into contest for every dollar they save.
Nerdwallet recently gave the Walmart Moneycard 4 starts out of 5.
