T-Mobile has announced a check-cashing service that will launch in February.
To be available at T-Mobile retailers and participating Safeway grocery stores around the country, the check-cashing service will be called Mobile Money and will purportedly let users cash checks without "excessive fees," The Washington Post reported.
Interested consumers can start signing up for Mobile Money on Wednesday. T-Mobile will waive monthly fees for its wireless customers, but consumers who aren't with T-Mobile can also be Mobile Money subscribers.
"Millions of Americans pay outrageous fees to check cashers, payday lenders and other predatory businesses--just for the right to use their own money," T-Mobile chief executive John Legere said in a press release as quoted by the Post. "Mobile Money shifts the balance of power for T-Mobile customers and keeps more money in their pockets."
In the Mobile Money system, customers will be given a T-Mobile prepaid Visa card, which can be reloaded through an app.
According to T-Mobile, the services will be offered at a "reduced or $0 cost" for wireless customers with no minimum balance or overdraft fees.
Mobile Money subscribers will be able to direct-deposit their paychecks; deposit checks using a smartphone camera; make purchases with the card; and pay their bills. Users can also withdraw cash at 42,000 ATM locations around the country.
"Mobile Money builds on T-Mobile's financing experience to provide a sensible and affordable alternative to checking fees for the roughly 68 million U.S. adults who do not have traditional accounts and have to rely on alternative financial services," the company said in a statement as quoted by the Post.
According to the Post, Walmart and American Express offered a similar service named Bluebird in 2012 that gave users a prepaid card.
Banks are preparing for potential new rules, since the federal government could soon begin instating regulations for prepaid cards and other products.
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