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    Monday, June 11, 2007

    Dear God In Heaven - The Wal-Mart Card

     
    Check our Walmart's awesomely evil deal: Cashing your check costs $3.00, but if you put the money on a Walmart MoneyCard, they'll waive the $4.64 "loading" fee. Neat! After that it's only $4.94 a month to keep your money on the card.

    Want to know how much is left? That'll be $0.70 to check your balance .This card, in essence, takes people who don't have access to the banking system in this country and makes Walmart their "bank." Except it's a "bank" where it costs $1.95 to get money from an ATM, but getting "cash back" from Walmart's POS is free! If you deposit more then $1,000, Walmart will generously waive the monthly maintenance fee on the card. Want to speak to a teller? That'll be $3.50. Your paper statement? $2.00.

    The Consumerist, of course.
     
    What's so notorious, so demonically clever, so gloriously evil about this idea is this:
     
    People WILL do it.  Why?
     
    Banking is expensive, and bank accounts become harder and harder to get.  Although I'm not a gambling man, I'd wager that in many ways, getting a credit card is easier.  The "unbanked" market will continue to grow, and as it does, you'll see more of this - because it's a cash cow that preys on that middle-lower-middle class market.  Just wait.
     
    Excuse me, my brain is hurting.

    2 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Walmart reminds me of a huge garage sale full of junk noone wants.

    Anonymous said...

    Wal Mart always offers you a lot of pieces of crap. ”Eat this” – they say… There are some pluses of course. Wal Mart’s web resource says that you don’t need a credit check or a bank account. These options are really useful for people with bad or no credit history.

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