Walmart money center

How to wire money with Walmart Money Center

Walmart Money Center is the one-stop shop for your basic financial needs, including bill paying, cash checking, and money transfers such as sending money to Mexico.

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Xe Consumer

January 19, 2023 8 min read

In a constantly-changing global economy, keeping track of the value of money remains as important as ever, especially when trying to send remittances to loved ones who live internationally. Knowing trends in currency rates, bank rates, and other components of currency exchange can ensure that every dollar sent translates to as much buying power as possible. Nowadays, countless apps, websites, and other online exchange providers exist that can help you keep track of all these financial changes and transfer money at the tip of your fingers. However, with so many options available, deciding which exchange provider to choose can seem overwhelming.

The wide availability of Walmarts both domestically and internationally makes transferring money significantly easier via the Walmart Money Center. Walmart Money Center provides users with the ability to access a variety of financial services. Through Walmart Money Center and the Walmart2Walmart app, you can safely and securely send money to loved ones both domestically and abroad. Utilizing Walmart’s financial services makes it simple to ensure your money gets sent safely, reliably, and quickly when you need it most.

What services are available through Walmart Money Center?

Walmart Money Center provides basic financial services to both Walmart financial service account holders and the general public. Walmart has many account services, such as issuing and maintaining accounts related to Walmart credit cards, rewards debit cards, and mobile checking accounts. In addition to Walmart-specific account services, Walmart Money Center offers various financial services, such as cash checking, bill pay and money orders, and tax preparation. Walmart itself does not hold transferred or received funds; rather, third-party financial institutions work with Walmart to provide banking services.

Perhaps one of the most useful features of Walmart Money Center is that it allows users to quickly and reliably transfer funds to recipients both domestically and internationally. Many money transfer companies, such as Western Union, MoneyGram, or Ria, Walmart’s partner for its own financial services app, Walmart2Walmart, have transfer options within thousands of Walmart locations worldwide. You can send money using Walmart to over 200 countries and territories, such as Mexico, India, Guatemala, and many more.

Why send money through Walmart Money Center?

In addition to acting as a one-stop financial service provider, Walmart Money Center provides many benefits. The wide availability of Walmarts both internationally and domestically across many parts of the world makes them more accessible than traditional banking institutions, which may only have limited locations, or other online financial services or financial exchange providers, which might have hidden fees.

The vast array of options available to transfer money inside Walmart also provides another benefit to those who choose to utilize its services. Walmart itself has its own financial exchange platform, Walmart2Walmart, that allows users to transfer money domestically for recipients to pick up at their convenience.

The domestic transfer option utilizes Ria, one of Walmart’s partners, which then works with other companies to provide remittance services at their locations, such as stores like Walmart. If transferring money internationally, Walmart2World, also powered by Ria, allows for transferring money and converting that money to the customer’s desired currency in accordance with exchange rates. Suppose one does not wish to use Walmart’s own app. In that case, customers have the ability to choose other remittance and financial exchanger platforms, such as MoneyGram and Western Union, also located inside many Walmart stores across the globe, including Walmart Mexico and Bodega Aurrera.

Not only does Walmart Money Center allow flexibility in how you can send money, but it also gives recipients the ability to choose how they receive their money. Similar to senders, recipients can also choose to either get their payments through one of Walmart’s own financial service providers, such as Ria or can choose to utilize MoneyGram or Western Union. Walmart also allows recipients to send their transfers directly into a mobile wallet or bank account. If bank account access presents a barrier, customers can also choose to allow their recipients to do a cash pickup at their nearest Walmart location. A recipient can simply go to a cash register and receive a limited pickup amount; if they go to the customer service desk, the recipient can get any amount.

How much does it cost, and how long does it take?

How much it costs to utilize Walmart Money Center’s money transfer services varies depending on location and exchange rates. For example, suppose a customer wants to send money to Mexico. In that case, the Walmart site provides the following exchange rates, which changes depending on the amount sent and the location in which it was sent (i.e., either in-store or via the Walmart app):

  • Send amount between $1 - $500; $2.50 in-store fee, $2.50 app fee

  • Send amount between $500.01 - $750; $5 in-store fee, $4.00 app fee

  • Send amount between $750.01 - $1000; $5 in-store fee, $5.00 app fee

  • Send amount between $1000.01 - $1,300; $10 in-store fee, $7.50 app fee

Walmart claims that, with few exceptions, the recipient can access the transferred funds in as little as ten minutes. These exceptions include the amount sent, country of destination, and other factors that affect the availability of financial services and currency. Recipients can withdraw up to 7,000 pesos at a cash register if they choose a cash pickup option.

Is Walmart Money Center safe and secure?

Walmart Money Center acts as an accessible avenue to give financial services to individuals who might wish to avoid the higher fees associated with traditional banks. Bank accounts established via their partner Bluebird have FDIC pass-through insurance, and the Walmart MoneyCard credit card is FDIC-insured. Additionally, especially if you are away from home and need to send money to a loved one internationally immediately, a traditional bank might be inaccessible. Walmarts provide a convenient physical location to carry out financial transactions.

All financial transactions performed in Walmart – either sending or receiving money – requires presenting photo identification to ensure that you intend to transfer funds and the transferred funds go to their intended recipient. When you make a transaction at a Walmart Money Center, your receipt will contain information about how to track your transfer. If any issues arise when using Walmart2Walmart via Ria, Walmart Money Center provides Ria’s customer line.

Money transfers with Xe

Despite all its conveniences, Walmart Money Centers have some limitations. For example, all Walmart Money Centers are only available during normal business hours. For customers with odd work hours, busy schedules, or who otherwise cannot get to a Walmart during hours of operation, this limitation makes it difficult for them to access these services.

Walmart financial services also impose certain limits on how much money can be transferred or cashed at any given time, especially depending on how they choose to do so (e.g., at the register versus customer service desk). Similarly, if your recipient does choose an option that requires them to go to a store, they still might not have access to their funds right away; if they cannot find anyone at a register who can do the transfer or the customer service desk is unavailable, they cannot access their funds.

Using Xe to transfer funds avoids the hassle of hours of operation or worrying about whether someone can help your loved ones receive the money you send them. With Xe, you can transfer funds quickly, reliably, and safely, from $1 to well over $500,000. Send money to Mexico and hundreds of other countries, and allow your recipient to pick it up as cash at thousands of store locations.

With Xe, you never have to wonder about exchange rates or speculate about currency trends. Xe's currency converter allows you to calculate amounts for hundreds of currencies across the world, as well as track the trends of currency over time.

Get live and weekly insight into currency performance, and compare currency exchange rates across countries, including information about the currency and its most popular exchange rates. Xe also provides you with live alerts about when a pair of currencies meet a specified rate. Understand exchange rates even more thoroughly by comparing interest rates across Central Banks worldwide.

How to send money with Xe

Xe provides users with real-time exchange rates with no hidden fees and acts as a fast and safe alternative to traditional banking institutions or other online exchange platforms, which may charge high margins and fees in exchange for their services.

Making an account is free and easy; simply sign in or create an account using your email address. Specify the amount you want to transfer, the currency you wish to exchange, and the destination. Xe will provide excellent rates and present transparent fees during the transaction.

Once you submit your transfer request, utilize our live updates to track your payment or send via one of our flexible delivery and payment options. Delivery speeds vary depending on the amount, but most transactions reach their recipients in a matter of minutes. For larger transactions, allow up to three business days.

Thousands of people have trusted millions of transfers with Xe. Sign up today and send your money with peace of mind.


The content within this blog post is not intended for use as financial advice. This content is for informational purposes only.