Walmart Touts New Money Transfer Service as Simple, Inexpensive (April 17, 2014)
Walmart moved further into financial services with its announcement today of its Walmart-2-Walmart Money Transfer Service, which enables customers to transfer money from one store to another at more than 4,000 U.S. Walmart locations. The service reportedly supports domestic cash and PIN debit transfers.
The program, available April 24, features a two-tiered pricing structure and competitive fees, according to the retailer. The fee for transfers up to $50 is $4.50, and transfers of up to $900 cost $9.50. Competitors’ fees for domestic transfers, which include more pricing tiers, can be as much as $5 for transfers up to $50 and as much as $76 for transfers up to $900, according to a pricing breakdown provided by Walmart. Ria Money Transfer, a money remittances service provider and subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide Inc., is the licensed money transfer operator for all Walmart-2-Walmart transactions.
P2P is one of the fastest growing categories of payments worldwide, with big fish like Amazon and Facebook eyeing it.
“Walmart-2-Walmart brings new competition and transparent, everyday low prices to a market that has become complicated and costly for our customers,” said Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services for Walmart U.S. “We’re … launching a new service that challenges the status quo and drives down prices for our customers.”
Eckert said Walmart’s relationship with MoneyGram, which has been in place for years, will not change and that Walmart had an option, under the retailer’s agreement with MoneyGram, to pursue its own money service, according to reports.
