Although our way of handling cash is changing and now we are moving to direct deposits. Now people use direct deposits through Banks, PayPal or Venmo but there are still many people whom priority is paper checks. So this means that you still have to cash checks to receive cash because many clients and companies still make payments through checks because by this they can keep a record easily. Other than that you may receive checks in the tax refunds or from any other cash back scheme.

Sometimes you cannot find the issuing bank near you so that means you have to find an alternative. If there is an issue then today I have come up with some of the alternatives through which you can cash a personal paper check. So starting from the 1^st,

1- Cash it from an App

Now you do not have to visit a location to cash your check, you can simply do this at the comfort of your home. By following some simple steps you can simple cash your checks and receive the amount through the apps written below.

• Ingo Money

One of the best app to cash your checks is Ingo Money. This app enables you to cash checks of almost any type like printed checks or hand written personal checks etc. If you want to cash a check through their app, you can simply download the app for free and then you will have to take a picture of your check from the front and back and then upload it on the app. After the pictures process you will have to tell the app that where you want to store your money. You can choose an Amazon gift card, online bill pay, money transfer to the PayPal account or prepaid debit card and you can pick up your cash from the nearest location of MoneyGram in exchange of your check. If you want your cashed money in more than one place you can still ask it for free. It will only take a single day for transaction in most of the redemption options.

After getting all this facilities it is time to talk about the fee and it will charge a fee of $5 on your personal checks of under 100 dollars. If it is more than $100 then it will cost a commission of 5%. Other than the printed checks it will cost $5 for checks under $250 and a commission of 2% on cost of more than $250.

If you want to save your fee money then you will have to choose the redemption option of your account and also you will have to wait for 10 days in order to receive your amount.

• PayPal

PayPal is the world’s most famous online payment services company. This company was founded in 1998 and has location all over the world. You can use this company to cash your checks online. This company is a partner with Ingo Money and First Century Bank. It works exactly the same as of the Ingo Money. The fee is different when you choose PayPal instead of Ingo Bank, here you will have to pay a 1% for government and payroll checks and 5% on all other kind of checks. Through PayPal you can transfer your amount in to number of different options like credit card, debit card or your bank account. You do not need to be a member of a bank in order to cash a check through PayPal.

2- Walmart Check Cashing

Walmart is one of the famous retail store of the United States, according to a survey about 90% of American can reach Walmart by only a drive of 15 minutes. So this could be one of the nearest alternatives to cash a paper check instead of the issuing bank. There is fixed fee for cashing a check from Walmart, you will have to pay a fee of $4 n every check that is of $1000 or less and you will have to pay $8 on every check that is greater than a thousand dollars. You can cash a check of $5000 in a single day but if you cashing a check in January and April or months in between then the daily limit increases to $7500.

You can take cash for check or either deposit that money in to your Walmart Money card. You will have to pay a reload fee when you choose to deposit in a card but your fee can be waived if you have a government check. You can cash any type of check from Walmart store, like your tax check, government check, insurance settlement check etc.

A drawback of Walmart is that you could only cash a personal check of $200. So if your personal check is more than $200 than you have to go to another alternative.

3- Credit Union

If you cannot find a bank near you or your nearest bank is charging a high fee than the best alternative could be Credit Union. Just by visiting your nearest branch, you can simply get your cash in your hands. Credit Unions are considered a much cheaper option than a local bank and they charge little fee. You can open a checking account at Credit Union with a minimum amount of $5 and by keeping an amount of $5 in your account you can bypass the monthly checking fee. So if you have to cash check often then you should consider a nearest Union Bank for a checking account.

4- Gas Station Travel Centers

Not all but some of the gas station or travel centers cash personal checks. It was a time when most of the gas station or travels centers use to take checks and cash them but because of the excessive fraud related to hand written checks, many stations have closed this facility for the people. So it is a luck by chance game when you are looking for a gas station or travel center to cash a check. You can use the check to fuel your car or any kind of vehicle that you use. As there are less number of gas station and travel centers from which you can cash a check, you can try Travel Centers of America and Pilot Flying J because both of these companies will cash checks. But in both these companies there are a limited number of locations from where you can cash a check. So it again depends upon your luck to find out a location.

5- Grocery Stores

Do you know that you can cash your check from your grocery store? Yes you heard it right that you can cash it from a grocery store. Not all the grocery stores will cash your paper check but some of will do it. You can find out by asking it from the service desk of that respective grocery store. There is a limited of types of checks that can be cashed from grocery stores and many stores discourages cashing checks because of the fraud that can come with it. You can cash your printed checks, payroll checks and money orders from some of the grocery store. There are some grocery stores like Albertson’s. Publix, Safeway and Kmart which you can visit to cash your checks without a hesitation.

Of course the grocery stores charge a fee to cash your checks, some may charge $5 to $6 for a check, some may charge a commission of 2% or in some cases it might be free depending upon the grocery store. Each store has its own policies, rules and regulations, so it will depend upon the type of store you are using. If you choose the store credit instead of cash then you can also waive off the fee of cashing a check. So if you have a check to cash and you have to buy groceries too then this could be best that you should visit one of the above mentioned store above if it has a nearby location.

6- 7-Eleven

7-Eleven is a convenience store company which was founded in the 1927 having more than 68 thousand locations all over the world. You can cash a check manually from their store but for this purpose you can use their app and you will have to scan your check or take a picture and post it to the app. Your check will processed within 48 hours of submission and the amount will be deposited in to your 7-Eleven Prepaid card. This card is used around the world and it is accepted at most of those locations where the Debit MasterCard is accepted that means you can cash your check via app and then shop online and manually from anywhere.

So these were some of the alternatives that you can choose to cash a paper check. Each has its own fees and policies. So if you can’t find an issuing bank near you, you can just simply use one of these options for a cheap fee. Do comment in the section below and let us know if you have any queries regarding these alternative let us know because we would love to hear from you. Best of luck!