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DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreen Co. is introducing a suite of financial services called Balance Financial that are integrated with its Balance Rewards customer loyalty card.
The program has been designed to provide low-cost financial services to customers, including those without traditional bank accounts.
The Balance Financial services are built around a new Balance Financial Prepaid MasterCard. The program is presently available to customers of more than 250 Walgreens stores in Detroit, Milwaukee and Nashville, and the company expects to roll out the card nationwide before the end of this year, with additional financial services launched in 2014.
Balance Financial currently encompasses the following products and services:
• The Balance Financial Prepaid MasterCard, which is presented as a safe alternative to cash for those customers without bank accounts or who want an alternative to debit cards and checking accounts. The card can be used anywhere Debit MasterCard is accepted.
• No-fee ATM withdrawals for Balance Financial cardholders at most Walgreens or Duane Reade stores throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Check cashing for Balance Financial cardholders in the initial 250 Walgreens stores. Cardholders can deposit payroll, tax refund and government benefit checks and can receive up to $100 in cash from their card account from a Walgreens cashier. Additional cash can be accessed without fee at a Walgreens ATM.
• Easy reloading of the card at any of more than 8,100 Walgreens or Duane Reade stores, as well as free card reloads with direct deposit. By enrolling their Balance Financial account in direct deposit, cardholders can have their payroll, tax refund or government benefit checks deposited to their Balance Financial account.
• Balance Rewards points can be earned by using the Balance Financial card. After linking the card to a Balance Rewards account, users can earn 10 points for every $1 spent at Walgreens or Duane Reade stores, 1,000 points for the first direct deposit and more points for in-store reloads and direct deposits.
• Cardholders can view their account balance and transaction history or move funds to another cardholder’s account using a variety of options including the website, walgreens.com/balancefinancial, a mobile app or in-store kiosks.
• In addition, cardholders can pay their bills online using the Balance Financial cardholder website.
