Wal-Mart will start selling prepaid Visa debit cards that don't require a credit check or bank account, the company said yesterday.

The world's largest retailer has sought to expand into financial services at its U.S. stores to serve the millions of people who don't have bank accounts or credit cards.

Wal-Mart will also add hundreds of in-store centers bundling the financial services it already offers, such as payroll check cashing and money transfers. The number of so-called MoneyCenters will rise from about 225 now to 1,000 by the end of 2008.

"The rapid expansion of its low-cost money services and in-store locations will help meet the needs of the millions of unbanked and underserved customers who visit Wal-Mart each week for their basic money service needs," Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said.

The announcement comes three months after Wal-Mart withdrew a bank license application that had been opposed by banks, unions and other critics, who argued before federal regulators that a Wal-Mart bank would have too much economic power.

The reloadable prepaid Visa card, dubbed the Wal-Mart MoneyCard, will be rolled out nationally in partnership with General Electric Corp. subsidiary GE Money and with prepaid card company Green Dot. It can be used anywhere that accepts Visa debit cards and can be reloaded at Wal-Mart stores or Green Dot locations, Wal-Mart said.

Prepaid debit cards have been catching on among some other retailers. They are also used by some state governments as a way to provide benefits to clients with no checking or savings accounts.

Wal-Mart said at the time it dropped the bank bid that it would focus instead on expanding a slate of individual financial services for people who live outside of mainstream banking.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. estimates that 10 million American households are "unbanked" or "underbanked," meaning they do not have accounts at financial institutions and often pay excessive fees for basic financial services.

Low income families are significantly less likely to have a checking or savings account, the Federal Reserve has said.

Wal-Mart already offers a range of financial services — payroll check cashing, bill payment, money orders, money transfers and Wal-Mart branded credit cards.

Customers for those services now have to stand in the general customer service line with people seeking refunds or making returns. The MoneyCenters will be stand-alone counters at the front of the store that will deal exclusively with financial services and make it easier for those customers to get what they want.

Wal-Mart says that it saved customers about $250 million last year by charging fees that are lower than those at other outlets. Payroll check cashing, for example, costs a fee of 1 percent or a maximum of $3.