HuffPo: Bank of Wal Mart????

[NewWaveChick1981]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-weiner/why-bank-of-walmart-is-a_b_17374.html

Geez, I see no problem whatsoever with that... :sarcasm: Why not let EVERY business start its own bank??? :(

[unblock]

1. they're not the first. what about gmac?

the financing arm of general motors?

[NewWaveChick1981]

3. Isn't GMAC a big-ticket financing/lending bank?

Not a checking/savings bank catering to people with small balances?

[unblock]

7. they do some retail business, car loans obviously.

i don't think they have specifically checking/savings accounts, though.

[Coyote_Bandit]

2. The Walton family

owns a bank group that operates in the states of JOklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. They have branch locations in many of the Wally World stores in those states.

[AllegroRondo]

4. Many big department stores have their own bank

it allows them to issue credit cards.

Sears, JP Penny, and Kohls all have one. You cant open a standard savings or checking account, its strictly for credit cards.

[Devlzown]

5. If Wal-Mart brings to the world of banking

what it's brought to small business, local hometown banks will no longer exist.

[napi21]

6. To play devils advocate, here's another view.

But imagine for a moment if the world's biggest retailer put the pricing squeeze on one of the world's more profitable businesses: financial services. Who would pay the price? Perhaps:
Mortgage lenders who surprise their borrowers with last-minute junk fees.


Banks that nickel and dime their small account holders to death.


Auto lenders who add discriminatory surcharges on loans to black and Hispanic buyers.


Credit card companies that use every excuse to jack up rates.


Check cashers and payday lenders that levy usurious charges on their customers.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Betterbanking/P109171.asp

I don't trust WM to do anything that wouldn't have harmful consequences, but the article does have a valid position.