Aldi may be the discount grocery store with the lowest food prices, but many of its peers also provide financial services such as check cashing and bill payment as well. Some of these supermarkets offer so many financial services that their customers can visit their stores instead of visiting their local bank branches. So I decided to see if any of these services were available at this German grocery store. Here are the financial services that are available at Aldi.
Does Aldi Cash Checks?
Aldi doesn’t cash checks and it doesn’t accept checks as a form of payment either. If you’re looking for alternatives, you can cash checks at WinCo, Kroger, and Walmart as well as several other grocery stores. Some drugstores and convenience stores offer check-cashing services as well. Large supermarkets may be able to pay out cash when you cash a check there but convenience stores may add the check’s balance to a prepaid debit card instead.
Does Aldi Sell Money Orders?
Aldi doesn’t sell money orders and it doesn’t cash them either. While several supermarkets sell money orders from Western Union and MoneyGram, Aldi doesn’t have any partnerships with these financial services companies. Again, you can visit other discount grocery stores such as Walmart to buy money orders and a few grocery stores will also cash money orders as well.
Can You Send or Receive Money at Aldi?
Aldi doesn’t provide money transfer services either so you can’t send or receive money at its stores. You can’t use its stores to send remittances either. Again, it’s not clear why this supermarket doesn’t support money transfers because several of its peers do have partnerships with money-transfer firms, but it seems like Aldi’s main goal is keeping its in-store prices as low as possible and providing other services could distract it from this goal. You can send money transfers at some discount supermarkets such as Superior Grocers, WinCo, and Food 4 Less.
Can You Reload Prepaid Cards at Aldi?
Aldi sells branded gift cards and you can reload these Aldi gift cards at its supermarkets. It doesn’t have any partnerships with third-party card providers such as Green Dot, though, so you might not be able to reload cards issued by other banks and fintechs at Aldi stores. While there are a few retailers that allow you to reload prepaid cards at their stores but don’t provide other financial services, it looks like Aldi doesn’t offer this service either. This service is also available at several supermarkets including Food 4 Less and Superior Grocers.
Can You Pay Utility Bills at Aldi?
You can’t pay utility bills or your rent at Aldi either. While some supermarkets have partnerships with financial services firms such as Western Union or apps like PayNearMe that allow you to pay utility bills at their stores, these bill payment services are not available at this discount supermarket.
You can pay your bills at other supermarkets, though, including Stater Bros and Albertsons. When a store does offer bill payment services, they’re usually available at a separate service desk located in the front of the supermarket.
What Are Aldi Alternatives That Offer Financial Services?
WinCo is a warehouse-style supermarket that provides several financial services. And while Aldi uses tokens to make sure that its customers return its carts, WinCo uses tokens to ensure that its check-cashing service is primarily used by its customers.
Food 4 Less provides several financial services at the customer service counters at its grocery stores. These services are also available at other Kroger stores, although many of them aren’t discount stores and have higher prices.
Superior Grocers provides several financial services as well and it has locations throughout Southern California. It’s not a global supermarket brand like Aldi, though.
Conclusion
Aldi does have reloadable gift cards that you can use to shop at its supermarkets but it doesn’t appear that it offers any other financial services, so its stores can’t serve as alternatives to bank branches. It’s likely that the reason why it doesn’t offer financial services is that Aldi is very dedicated to its main goal, operating a highly efficient grocery store with much lower prices than other grocery stores, and it has been very effective at accomplishing this goal. There are several discount supermarkets that do provide financial services to their customers, but even though they also have low prices, Aldi might still surpass them in this area.