Wal-Mart to offer prepaid payment cards

BENTONVILLE, Ark. Wal-Mart is introducing a prepaid payment card, designed for the large number of Americans who do not have a bank account, according to reports. The Visa-branded card, called the Wal-Mart MoneyCard, will have a $3,000 limit.

According to reports, the MoneyCard will work like Visa's other prepaid cards, allowing the holders credit their salaries to their account or to supermarkets or convenience stores.

Wal-Mart's prepaid card program is one way the company can offer financial services without having to obtained an ILC charter, which the company decided to stop pursuing in March.

According to Wal-Mart's financial services president, Jane Thompson, Wal-Mart withdrew its application for an Industrial Loan Company (ILC) charter because of the FDIC's decision to extend the moratorium on several pending ILC applications at the time of the announcement. She added that, despite the rumors, the company never intended to open a bank.

"Unlike dozens of prior ILC applications, Wal-Mart's has been surrounded by manufactured controversy since it was submitted nearly two years ago. At no stage did we intend to use the ILC to establish branch banking operations as critics have suggested -- we simply sought to reduce credit and debit card transaction costs," said Thompson.