CVS sells both over-the-counter and prescription drugs as well as personal care products but that’s not all it offers. This drugstore also provides some financial services that could be very useful if you don’t have a bank account or your nearest bank branch is far away. Like other drugstores, CVS may charge you additional fees to use some of its financial services but it might still be worth going there for the added convenience. Here are the financial services that are available at CVS.
Does CVS Cash Payroll Checks?
CVS doesn’t offer a check-cashing service. Its main competitors Walgreens and Rite Aid don’t offer this service either, but you can cash checks at some supermarkets and big-box stores. One of these stores is Kroger, which owns several regional supermarket chains. You can also cash payroll checks at the employee-owned WinCo grocery store if it has a location in your area.
Does CVS Sell Money Orders?
CVS sells money orders. It’s noteworthy that it also allows you to receive money orders, although this does depend on whether the store has enough cash on hand to give to you. Additionally, there’s a limit of $500 per money order at this drugstore. There’s also a small fee for sending a money order at this drugstore. Like many other stores, CVS provides its money order services through a partnership with Moneygram.
Can You Send or Receive Money at CVS?
You can send and receive money at CVS and you can also send remittances to foreign countries there. Again, CVS has a partnership with MoneyGram and this money transmitter supports both domestic and international money transfers. The other drugstores, Walgreens and Rite Aid, have partnerships with Western Union instead. It is possible for a store to have partnerships with both MoneyGram and Western Union at the same time but both companies provide similar services. Expect to pay a small fee to send a money order at CVS and bring your ID along with you to the store.
Can You Reload Prepaid Cards at CVS?
You can reload prepaid debit cards at CVS. It’s a member of the Vanilla Reload Network, which supports many types of prepaid cards. This drugstore does charge a fee for reloading prepaid cards, though, and some of its competitors may charge lower fees or even reload your card without charging additional fees. For example, Walgreens doesn’t charge any fees to reload Chime cards. You should also be prepared to provide your ID at the store to use this service.
Does CVS Provide Bill Payment Services?
You can also pay certain bills, such as electricity bills and rent, at CVS. Like many other stores, it has a partnership with the bill payment app PayNearMe. If you’ve opened up an account with this app, you can scan a code on your phone at a CVS store to pay your bill with cash. The PayNearMe app will also show you the locations of stores in its network, including Walgreens stores that also offer this bill payment service.
What Are CVS Alternatives That Provide Financial Services?
Walmart offers financial services at its in-store money centers. Like CVS, it also cashes money orders and it will cash payroll checks as well.
Rite Aid also provides services such as bill payment and money transfers, although it has partnerships with different financial services companies than CVS.
Walgreens also provides financial services, although unlike the other drugstores it doesn’t sell money orders. It does have Western Union kiosks in its stores that provide a few other services, though.
Conclusion
CVS offers several useful financial services and can serve as an alternative to a bank branch if you don’t have a traditional bank account. The main difference between the financial services that are available at CVS and the services at other drugstores is that this drugstore has a partnership with MoneyGram and the other drugstores have partnerships with Western Union. This might be relevant if you’d prefer to use a specific financial services company.