Article

Check-cashing kiosk serves underbanked

Chexar and Nexxo partnered to design an all-in-one, check-cashing solution.

April 21, 2011

Consumers can complete almost any financial transaction at one kiosk, including cashing checks, wiring money paying bills and topping up phones, with a kiosk solution designed by Chexar Networks Inc. and Nexxo Financial Corporation.

The companies partnered to serve the underbanked by launching a full-service, check-cashing kiosk capable of cashing any type of check utilizing any type of consumer identification allowed by law.

"The value for retailers is that they can provide those services that they've already been providing but in a cashless way," said Craig McDonald, senior vice president of Sales and Business Development for Nexxo. "They don't have to staff a money center, there's no handing of cash or any compliance issues. Staff just needs to make customers aware that the services are offered through the kiosk."

McDonald said the solution would soon include ATM functionality.

"So within all one machine a consumer can have a store profile that will allow them to perform all financial services all in one place," he said.

McDonald said the partnership between Nexxo and Chexar made sense because Nexxo had already deployed more than 1,000 self-service kiosks that have processed millions of remittance and bill payment transactions. Chexar has thousands of client locations around the country that offer full-service, check cashing and check-to-card services to under-banked consumers. The companies have been working together for the past 18 months to develop a kiosk that combined Nexxo's user simplicity and Chexar's approval rates on all checks and IDs.

"Every retail and financial services partner we have wants one machine that can do it all: cash a check, pay a bill, send money, load a prepaid card, sell a phone card – and do it all in few seconds with a simple easy customer experience," said Dave Alvarez, Founder and CEO of Nexxo. "We have been able to leverage our extensive experience in kiosk-based money transfer and bill pay, and Chexar's check-cashing technology to finally provide the solution everyone has been asking for."

The first implementation went live late last year in Nexxo-owned retail locations in Los Angeles, and is now being made available to partners.

Both companies said they are seeing significant demand among their existing client base and in new markets.

"I believe that self-service for the under-banked consumer has a place in the same way ATMs have had a place for the banked consumer," said Drew Edwards, Chexar Founder and CEO. "For that to happen, the core service for this consumer, check cashing, had to be fully available at the self-service kiosk. We think what we have built with Nexxo breaks all previous barriers and will set the standard for future devices. This will enable our clients to expand their reach and availability in a more cost-effective way."

Retailers can also brand the kiosks and use them for marketing purposes, McDonald said.

"It's a very elegant platform to drive both promotions within and across services," he said. "You can start crafting interesting cross promotions through the kiosks and products in store. 'Come on in and get free check cashing if you spend this much money within this store.'"

McDonald also said the kiosks are an easy sell to retailers because Nexxo is 100-percent responsible for operations. The company not only offers the technology and provides back-office channels, but it can also operate the entire financial service, providing a full-turnkey option.

"So whether something got jammed or a kid sticks something in the machine, we know about that," McDonald said. "We are keeping a constant heartbeat on it, so we are notified immediately and can take action."