Did you know that Wal-mart charges its own employees a fee to cash its own paychecks? Well, its true and it only point out how poorly Wal-mart pays - otherwise the staff would no doubt have savings and checking accounts and have no need to pay a fee to cash a check. It’s very similar to payday lending, in my view.

In a curious twist, Wal-mart realizes that there is big competition for those stimulus checks and is trying to get the checks cashed in its own stores. It is now offering free check cashing on stimulus checks and even allowing the money to be added to the Wal-mart money cards. How generous of them. While other retailers are offering “free bonus money” to customers, Wal-Mart is negating that by flexing its pricing power as the world’s biggest grocer and undercutting prices on basic food items.

Wal-Mart already cashes a million checks a week, so prepare for that number to grow. And once people realize they can cash checks at Wal-mart, the retail giant may be taking on payday lenders.

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