Check cashing fees – find the best place to cash a check

For most Americans cashing a check is usually not a problem – all you need to do is take a picture of the check using your banking app or go to a local bank branch to deposit the check into your bank account. Most of the time, it’s easy, quick and free. But how can you cash a check if you don’t have a bank account and can’t open one for some reason? It turns out that cashing a check without a bank account can be expensive and complicated. In this article we will discuss a few ways to cash a check without paying huge fees:

Payday lenders have the highest check cashing cost

Payday loan lenders get a bad rap mainly for charging huge amounts of interest on loans. But another thing they are notorious for is charging unreasonable fees for cashing checks – you can expect to pay as much as 5-10% of the sum of the check, which is a lot higher than what you’d pay at other places.

Retail stores have some of the best check cashing fees

Get the best check cashing rate at the check issuer’s bank

One of the most cost-effective ways to cash a check is to simply visit a branch of the bank that issued the check and cash it there. This is, of course, only possible if your check wasn’t issued by a federal or state agency and if there’s a branch of that specific bank nearby. In many cases, banks will waive check cashing fees for non-customers who are cashing checks issued by the bank, but some banks still charge a small fee. Keep in mind that you will most likely be asked to provide an ID when cashing a check at a bank.

Use a prepaid card to cash a check with low fees

If you don’t want or can’t cash your check at a bank or at a local retailer, another option is to deposit your check to a prepaid debit card. This will most likely be more expensive than using a bank or a Wal-Mart, but the cost will still be less than those of a payday lender. You will most likely have to pay a monthly maintenance fee and a transaction fee to cash a check using a prepaid debit card.