Wal-Mart Cashes Stimulus Checks for Free

Wal-Mart is going Sears one better, offering to cash the government’s stimulus checks for free, with no purchase required.

The mega-retailer is just the latest in a list of retailers hoping to convince consumers to spend their stimulus checks in their stores, MediaPost writes.

Sears recently announced that it will give a 10 percent bonus to all customers who convert their stimulus checks into gift cards at Sears or Kmart.

Wal-Mart is expecting six out of 10 consumers to spend the bonus on staples rather than things like electronics or jewelry, so it plans to offer price cuts on items including shampoo, breakfast juice, lunch meat and cereal bars. The rollbacks will be advertised in circulars and online.

Consulting company TNS Retail Forward predicts that only about 23 percent of American families - compared to Wal-Mart’s expected six out of 10 - will spend their rebates on everyday expenses like groceries or gas. The company predicts that the tax rebates will give retail sales a “significant and much-needed boost in the next two quarters,” spending as much as $42 billion of the $105.7 billion rebate total at retail stores between May and the end of the year.