Family Dollar is a variety store that’s known for its low prices and it also provides a few financial services as well. If you don’t live near a bank branch or don’t have a checking account, you can still do a few basic tasks such as reloading a debit card or paying your electricity bill at this discount store. It doesn’t offer as many financial services as some supermarkets and drugstores, though. Here are the financial services that are available at Family Dollar.
Does Family Dollar Cash Checks?
Family Dollar doesn’t cash checks. It’s risky for a convenience store to cash checks because it would need to keep lots of cash outside of its safe. The convenience stores Circle K and 7-Eleven do provide check-cashing services by loading the check’s balance onto a prepaid debit card, which is one way to avoid this risk. You can also cash checks at supermarkets that have separate customer service desks for financial services.
Does Family Dollar Sell Money Orders?
Family Dollar doesn’t sell money orders and it doesn’t cash them either. While some grocery stores have partnerships with financial services companies that sell money orders at desks in their stores, it doesn’t appear that this variety store has any of these partnerships in place. If you’re looking for an alternative, you can buy money orders at Albertsons and Walmart stores.
Can You Send or Receive Money at Family Dollar Stores?
Family Dollar doesn’t offer money transfer services. It doesn’t have a partnership with either Western Union or MoneyGram, the two main money transfer services used by other retail stores. While it does have partnerships with other fintechs that provide financial services, these apps don’t allow you to send money to individuals or receive money transfers. Circle K and 7-Eleven do provide money transfers if you’re looking for an alternative.
Can You Reload Debit Cards at Family Dollar?
You can reload prepaid debit cards at Family Dollar. It allows you to reload Bluebird cards for free, which is noteworthy, although you should be prepared to pay a small fee to reload other debit cards there. Reloading fees vary and they’re set by the card issuer’s policies as well as the store’s policies. It’s also a good idea to bring an ID, such as a driver’s license, if you’re planning to bring cash to a store to reload a prepaid card. Other dollar stores, such as Dollar Tree, often reload prepaid cards as well.
Can You Pay Your Utility Bills at Family Dollar?
You can also pay utility bills with cash at Family Dollar. This might be useful to know if you need to pay your power bill or your rent but don’t have a traditional bank account. Family Dollar has partnerships with PayNearMe and VanillaDirect Pay so it gives you two options in this category. This is noteworthy because some stores only have partnerships with one service provider and it may be useful if you’d prefer to use a specific app to pay your bills.
What Are Family Dollar Alternatives That Provide Financial Services?
Circle K convenience stores provide a few services that aren’t available at Family Dollar such as money transfers and check cashing. You can also reload prepaid cards and pay utility bills at Circle K.
7-Eleven has in-store kiosks that provide several financial services and it also provides more services than this variety store. The in-store kiosks are upgraded ATMs that allow you to withdraw cash as well.
Walgreens also provides several financial services and has stores throughout the country, so it’s another place you can visit if you need to use a service that’s not available at Family Dollar.
Conclusion
Family Dollar could be a useful place to visit if you want to reload a prepaid debit card or pay a utility bill. It doesn’t offer as many financial services as some larger supermarkets and drugstore chains, though, so you might need to visit other stores to cash checks, transfer money, or perform other tasks. That’s normal for dollar stores and variety stores, though, because they typically don’t offer these services either.