Word: banking
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John Peterson knows a thing or two about the struggles of the family farm. After losing his northern Illinois farm, and a sizeble majority of his land, in the 1980s due to a combination of skyrocketing interest rates, mounting bank loans and underperforming crops, Peterson was poised years later to fail a second time as he tried to farm his remaining acreage. But in the early '90s, he found salvation in an unlikely place: a small but passionate group of environmentally minded Chicago shoppers who happened to be on the hunt for a rural farmer rich in organic produce...
...Wednesday, the nation's largest retailer unveiled plans to open 1,000 in-store MoneyCenters aimed at serving the 40 million or so people without traditional bank accounts. The main draw at the centers, which will be in about a quarter of all Wal-Mart stores by the end of 2008, is the cashing of government and printed payroll checks for the bargain price of $3 a pop. The retailer is also debuting a reloadable, prepaid Visa debit card that does not require a bank account or proof of U.S. citizenship...
...also good business. While traditional banks have struggled to attract the unbanked without outrageous charges, check cashers and payday loaners raked in an estimated $11 billion in fees from this $1 trillion economy. Cleveland-based KeyBank, for example, has attracted just 5,500 new customers in the past two years with its own check-cashing business, but has yet to make a profit from it. One problem is that people who have never had a bank account are distrustful of banks as a whole and feel unwelcome in institutions where they could not qualify for a checking account...
...Mart to work with partners to add even more financial services such as mortgages and home equity loans later, something the company has not ruled out and competitors are already bracing for. Although Wal-Mart withdrew its bid earlier this year to become a full-fledged bank, amid opposition from community banks that feared such a move would put them out of business, Wal-Mart's new Money Centers and MoneyCards are giving them a significant foothold in the financial services industry. The centers currently offer money orders, bill payment and phone cards in a newly designated space painted...
...playing at Lambs. Despite fierce opposition from members, sports governing bodies and local politicians, the club will close at the end of next month. Mike Corby, Lambs' owner and the man who launched the club in 1979, was forced to sell the site to developers in 2004 to meet bank debts. Work on a nine-story apartment block begins in the fall...