Walmart MoneyCard Reviews

Overview

The Walmart MoneyCard (sometimes spelled as “Wal-Mart” and “Money Card”) is a reloadable magnetic stripe prepaid card that enables users to store and spend money both online and in person. Like other prepaid debit cards, it is not tied to a cardholder’s bank account and it does not draw funds from a checking or savings account. Instead, it must be manually loaded in advance via a transfer from a bank account or a third-party service, and then it can be swiped like a traditional debit or credit card.

The Walmart MoneyCard can be activated under four different plans: Basic, Plus, Specialty, and Preferred. The Basic plan can be activated for free online or $1.88 in stores. The Plus plan, which includes an online bill pay service and the ability to send peer-to-peer payments, costs $3.00 to purchase and activate. The Specialty and Preferred plans can both be activated for $4.00 and come with their own additional features.

Walmart MoneyCard Fee Breakdown

All Walmart MoneyCard plans come with a monthly fee of $3.00 in addition to their activation fees. Plus and Specialty cardholders can get this fee waived by loading the card with at least $1000 in a month, while Preferred cardholders only need to load it with at least $500 or load the card via direct deposit to avoid the monthly fee. All card types except the Preferred card cost $3.00 per each reload at a Walmart location, and all card types including the Preferred card cost $4.95 per each reload via the Green Dot Network. All card types also assess a $2.00 fee for each withdrawal and a $1.00 fee for each balance inquiry at non-MoneyPass ATMs. The full list of fees for each card type can be seen here.

Walmart MoneyCard Prepaid Card Fees

At a glance

Launched: 2007

Location: Monrovia, California

Issuer: Green Dot

Website: walmartmoneycard.com

Phone number: 1-877-937-4098

E-mail: MoneyCard Support

Featured User Reviews

The Walmart MoneyCard stacks up pretty poorly against other prepaid debit cards – according to our prepaid debit card finder, they rank #10 in fees and would cost $123 a year. You can do a lot better than that.

-Anisha Sekar, NerdWallet

My opinion hasn’t changed since 2007: I don’t like this card, even though I do like the idea of Walmart banking America’s poor. The company does a good job of banking in Mexico, and it’s sad that it can’t do the same here. But the MoneyCard is not a good alternative to a bank account, or even to other prepaid cards. (It’s significantly worse than, say, the prepaid cards which California uses to distribute its unemployment and disability benefits.)

Felix Salmon, Reuters

What other reviewers are saying

Ripoff Report

Walmart MoneyCard currently has over 200 negative reviews on Ripoff Report. Complainants mention a wide range of issues including account freezes, theft, poor customer service, unreasonable requests for documentation, unexpected fees, delivery issues, and problems setting up direct deposit. It does not appear that any specific complaint is more prevalent than the others, which indicates that MoneyCard users can expect to encounter any or all of these problems. Walmart and Green Dot do not appear to have responded to any of these complaints.

The Better Business Bureau

The Better Business Bureau currently gives Walmart MoneyCard an “A+” rating and accreditation despite 538 complaints posted to the company’s profile in the last three years. Most of these complaints (427) are related to product or service issues, while the second-most common complaint category is billing and collection (66). The company has successfully resolved 89% of these complaints. The company has also received one negative informal review on its BBB profile.

Other sources

Walmart MoneyCard has received an average rating of 1.2 out of 5 on ConsumerAffairs based on 273 votes. It has also received dozens if not hundreds of negative reviews on both Complaints Board and CreditCardForum.

Our take

Like most other prepaid cards, the Walmart MoneyCard does not compare favorably to a free checking account, primarily due to its numerous fees and lack of security features. Although the card doesn’t charge any per-transaction fees, its activation fees, monthly fees, and reload fees combined can cost the average user a significant amount over the course of a year. In addition, its requirements for getting the monthly fee waived are comparatively demanding for those who don’t use direct deposit, meaning that Walmart will get its money one way or another through reload fees and monthly fees.

The most significant factor that forces us to recommend against this card, however, is its complaint record. While it’s nowhere near the onslaught of negative reviews amassed by NetSpend, MoneyCard’s complaint volume is disconcertingly high and diverse. Most complaints are related to the service associated with the card—Walmart/Green Dot customer support, delivery issues, online bill pay—rather than any pricing issues, which means that all tiers of MoneyCard will encounter these issues. Overall, MoneyCard isn’t the worst prepaid debit card option, but it also isn’t the best. Smart buyers should look elsewhere for the time being.

Have you used a Walmart MoneyCard prepaid debit card? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below: