Walmart Offers Customers Tax Refunds In Cash

(RTTNews) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) Tuesday announced a new financial service that allows customers to collect tax refunds in cash at any one of its stores, a move intended to improve its declining store traffic.

Walmart Direct2Cash service is available nationwide starting Tuesday and the company claims it will help customers save time and money.

The more than 25,000 tax preparation locations using software with the Walmart Direct2Cash option may provide this service for no additional fee or charge a maximum of $7 at the time of filing, the company said in a statement. Walmart does not charge customers a fee when refunds are claimed in a store.

"We know tax refunds can be one of the largest financial payouts of the year for many of our customers, and the last thing they want is to wait for their refund check to arrive and then spend money on unnecessary fees - in many cases upwards of $70 - to cash it," said Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services for Walmart U.S.

"By skipping the check and choosing this new service, customers will not only save time, but also keep some extra cash in their pockets - two things Americans can always use more of," Eckert added.

However, the new service seem to be another marketing gimmick of the retail giant, who are struggling with lower customer traffic. This new service will allow the company to benefit from customers who will visit their stores to collect refund and might spend some of the cash in the store itself.

WMT is currently trading at $86.68, down $0.08 or 0.10%, on the NYSE.