BENTONVILLE, Ark.—Walmart has announced plans to let customers pay their bills or fund prepaid accounts with cash in its stores nationwide.
The discount giant is collaborating with InComm Payments to make the payment tech provider’s Vanilla Direct financial network available nationwide at more than 4,700 stores, Chain Store Age reported.
Customers will have access to more than 15,000 billers and account providers participating in the Vanilla Direct network. Financial service providers come from across a variety of sectors, such as utility, telecommunication, tolling, banking, rental companies, and insurance providers, the report stated.
Consumers will be able to pay bills and fund a variety of account types at Walmart’s customer service desk or in-store Walmart Money Center by scanning a barcode tied to their account (either via a paper copy or digitally on their mobile device) and completing their payment with cash. Funds are then transferred electronically through a single consolidated settlement.
Increasing Presence
As CUToday.info has been reporting, Walmart has been increasing its presence in the financial services sector during 2021. At the beginning of the year, Walmart launched a fintech startup designed to develop and offer “modern, innovative and affordable financial solutions” in collaboration with Ribbit Capital, one of the venture capital firms behind Robinhood. That venture is being co-developed by two of the executives behind Goldman Sachs’ Marcus retail offering.
In August, the retailer also teamed up with the payments platform and financial technology company PayNearMe to let customers make cash bill payments to utility companies and other billers at select Walmart stores.