Mehrsa Baradaran, an associate professor in the School of Law, was quoted in an article about Walmart’s Direct2Cash program, which will allow people to pick up their state and federal tax refunds in cash at its stores across the country.
According to the Huffington Post piece, Walmart is helping to solve issues for the 10 million U.S. households that don’t use banks. Baradaran said that many unbanked Americans, who typically are low-income, often rely on check-cashing services that can be expensive or they borrow against their expected tax returns at “usurious” rates.
“Walmart is definitely doing more for the unbanked than the government at this point,” Baradaran said.
Baradaran added that in an ideal scenario, a government agency such as the U.S. Post Office would offer this service.
