Newsroom

September 25, 2014

Walmart readying new checking account

Walmart has announced it will offer a new checking account – the "GoBank" account – by the end of October and will charge low or no fees.

The company says the new account, offered through Green Dot Bank, will charge no overdraft fees, minimum balance charges or monthly fees. A monthly cost of $8.95 is waived "in any month with qualifying direct deposits totaling $500 or more," the company's statement said.

Credit Union Times sourced one credit union CEO who is not concerned about the competition. "The question is will (Go Bank) impact demographically the members we serve," Rudy Pereira, president and CEO of Royal Credit Union in Eau Claire, Wis., is quoted saying. "I believe not so much because we are in the process of reducing and eliminating fees."

NAFCU is watching developments such as these for their impact on credit unions and their members. "We support efforts to deliver services to underserved or unbanked persons, but we believe credit unions are best suited for delivering such services, and they do so with consumers' best interests in mind," said Mike Coleman, NAFCU's director of regulatory affairs.

CFPB is set to hold a forum in Washington next month on access to checking accounts.