In an article in yesterday's American Banker titled "For Wal-Mart, No Bank Charter Is No Problem", Maria Aspan reported on how "not getting a bank charter two years ago may have been one of the best things to happen to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s financial services agenda." Indeed, Wal-Mart has been very successful "with products aimed at the growing market of underbanked and low-income consumers who are largely underserved by the banking industry."

In today's Deal of the Day column on SmartMoney.com, Lisa Scherzer writes about "The Pitfalls of Prepaid Cards" - noting that "Prepaid cards may not come with the sky high late-payment fees or APRs of traditional credit cards, but they do carry a slew of other charges." She goes on to recommend four network-branded prepaid cards "whose fees are a little more palatable than others" - including two from MetaBank, the Wal-Mart Money Card issued by GE Money, and the new Current Debit Card by Discover.

Walmart has announced that it is "stepping up efforts to provide affordable access to essential money services for the growing number of underserved Americans, including the millions who are not using traditional checking accounts to manage their finances. Dubbed "Operation Main Street: Money Management," the program includes a $3 Rollback price on the Walmart MoneyCard and a focus on financial literacy." READ MORE