Dive Brief:

• Kmart has been offering check-cashing services since September, and is now lowering the fees on the service, which is notoriously expensive for many people, from $3 to $1 or less. 

• The service is available to Shop Your Way members, a free loyalty program for Kmart and Sears customers.

• The check-cashing service is the latest in a set of financial services open to Shop Your Way members, including layaway year-round, lease-to-own, walk-in bill pay, money transfer, and money orders. 

Dive Insight:

Offering financial and other services like this helps make a retailer a fixture in the community, not just a place to buy clothes or home goods. Kmart, like Wal-Mart stores, is providing financial services that, for lower-income people who make up some of its customer base, can be difficult to find and expensive to use. Kmart’s revised check cashing rates seem to beat those of Wal-Mart Stores, which continues to add to its portfolio of services useful to customers.