United Check Cashing bills itself as the “one stop financial service center” and has been around since 1977. The company has approximately 60 locations primarily clustered in the northeast of the United States. Similar to other check cashing companies, United Check Cashing mainly offers check cashing services.
Why Do Check Cashing Services Exist?
In short, they exist because of consumer demand for liquidity. United Check Cashing and similar companies started up to provide customers with liquidity. Imagine you just received a paper check for $1,000 and need to access the funds as soon as possible. What are your options? You could go to a bank but they will likely hold onto the check for a few days before releasing the funds. In fact most banks take 2-3 business days to process the check. This means that if you’re trying to cash a check on a Friday, you might not get the funds till the following Wednesday. This is clearly not ideal for situations where you need the funds as soon as possible. Companies like United Check Cashing were started to help address this problem.
Overview of United Check Cashing
United Check Cashing is a traditional check cashing service provider. The company processes several types of checks including payroll, income tax refund, insurance, 401(k) and rebate checks. In addition to this, the company provides other financial services. This includes purchasing money orders, bill payments, loading and unloading debit cards and selling unwanted gift cards. As you can imagine the main benefit of United Check Cashing Services is that it is unconventional. Specifically customers can get instant cash for their checks and do not need a bank account to use United Check Cashing.
Check Cashing Services
This is the main advantage of doing business with United Check Cashing rather than a typical bank. Taking your check to a typical bank will result in you having to wait for the funds to clear. By instead using United Check Cashing, you can get your cash instantly for a fee. This fee is usually below 5% of the check amount and can be as low as 2% of the check amount. This can be beneficial if you need your cash sooner than later or don’t have a traditional bank account. You will need to bring the paper check and your valid government issued photo ID to cash the check. United Check Cashing may have other requirements to cash a check, so it is best to check with them before visiting them for the first time.
Offerings For Small Business
If you’re managing a small business sometimes it might be difficult to align your incoming revenue with your bills and expenses. This is especially the case if your customers pay you by check, as is often the case. The company also offers check cashing services for business. You can deposit customer checks and receive cash instantly. This can be especially advantageous for managing working capital for your business. You will need to visit them in person to fill out an application and other documentation. The company does require you to bring your business formation documents, EIN verification, and trade certificate if applicable.
United Check Cashing can also help with business or office related services. This is great to help save time by not having to visit additional stores for your needs like a notary, copying, faxing, and buying envelopes and stamps.
Prepaid Debit Card Offering
Sometimes you need a card over cash for purchases or just the convenience of not carrying around a large sum of money. United Check Cashing sells MasterCard and Visa-branded debit cards. You are able to pick the one you want, load the card with money, and use it until the balance runs out. Prepaid debit cards are great for managing bills, shopping online, grocery shopping, and so much more without having to worry about overdraft fees or credit card debt.
Bill Payment with United Check Cashing
You can also use the company to help you pay your bills. They are able to pay most bills within 2 business days but have hundreds of bills that they accept. You will need to bring your physical bill and cash for them to help you electronically pay your bill.
Final Comments
The company is available within the United States, but most of their locations are in the Northeast. In fact all but four locations are in the Northeast. There are two locations in Florida, one in Texas and one in Colorado as of this writing. We noted earlier that United Check Cashing was founded in 1977. Another interesting fact about the company is that they began franchising in 1992. United Check Cashing does not have a rating with the BBB or complaints. However, most of their Google reviews hover around 4.0. That said, they do have a location with a 2.2 rating and some as high as 4.4 out of 5. Given that some of these locations will be franchises, its not atypical to see variation in customer feedback.