Walmart-linked fintech's banking incursion reaches autos

Car Dealership cars auto loan
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
  • Key insight: The Walmart-backed fintech OnePay has added auto finance and payment tools. 
  • What's at stake: Auto finance is fragmented, attracting both banks and fintechs that are trying to sell an easier user experience. 
  • Expert quote:  "Your car is one of the biggest expenses in your life, but most people have no idea what it's worth, what they still owe, or whether they're overpaying for insurance." –OnePay's  Pat McLoughlin

Walmart's quest to be a financial services provider is accelerating as an affiliate fintech expands its reach into auto finance. 

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OnePay this week launched My Garage, enabling a variety of auto-related payments and access to financial information through a single feature. Walmart is the majority owner of OnePay, which is also backed by Ribbit Capital and central to the big box retailer's financial app strategy. 

"Your car is one of the biggest expenses in your life, but most people have no idea what it's worth, what they still owe, or whether they're overpaying for insurance," Pat McLoughlin, general manager of Marketplace at OnePay, said in an email to American Banker.

In the driveway

Consumers can use OnePay Garage to access current vehicle value, loan equity, payoff timeline, auto insurance offers, and gas rewards. OnePay hopes to sell consumers on a single location rather than the distinct apps where this information is normally found. 

McLoughlin said consumers don't think in terms of financial products, but instead think about what those products make possible in their lives. "[We're giving] people financial visibility into one of the most expensive assets they own but rarely fully understand," McLoughlin said. 

Banks and fintechs are also attracted to auto finance, a major purchase that for most people is the second largest following housing. This includes making payments related to auto ownership easier.

Origence, a credit union service organization that specializes in auto-lending technology, and Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union, a credit union for credit unions, recently launched instant payments through FedNow in collaboration with Tesla, enabling credit unions connected to Origence's lending subsidiary, FI Connect, to instantly fund loans to the automaker.

Among banks, TD Auto Finance, the U.S. auto lending division of Toronto-Dominion Bank, has also pushed payments technology through support for the bank-led RTP. And U.S. Bank has connected new payment technology to other auto-related financial services through a collaboration with Driveway.com, the e-commerce subsidiary of automotive group Lithia Motors. 

Car finances can be scattered, including loans, insurance, gas, or maintenance, which OnePay attempts to address by centralizing these products along with other financial products, according to McLoughlin. 

"Most consumers don't want a bunch of different apps for their money," McLoughlin said. 

OnePay's app

OnePay was formed in 2022 through the merger of several fintech startups (including Hazel and the challenger bank One). Its products include debit cards issued by Green Dot and high-yield savings accounts provided by Coastal Community Bank.

OnePay also partners with Synchrony Financial to issue a co-branded credit card usable anywhere and a private-label card for Walmart purchases, with both embedded in the OnePay app.

Other products include BNPL through a partnership with Klarna to offer loans at Walmart stores, and an additional collaboration with Upstart to provide credit access to Walmart shoppers. In September 2025 it launched OnePay Wireless, a prepaid phone plan provided through a partnership with Gigs and through the AT&T network.

OnePay's move into auto finance and payments faces competition from Chime and banks, or a service such as CreditKarma, according to Aaron Press, research director of Worldwide Payment Strategies.

"This is more of an open banking and data access issue," Press told American Banker, adding OnePay is gathering data from a few different places, presumably using an open banking framework to provide a single, complete picture of the financial impact of a vehicle. "This is something many banks will enable, but perhaps not as a discreet product or with as complete a picture," Press said. 
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OnePay's feature is similar to a personal finance application with embedded lending, according to Aaron McPherson, principal at AFM Consulting. 

"This is something that PayPal could try to do if it wants to strengthen its value proposition for consumers," McPherson said. "To the extent that other financial institutions have an auto lending program, it would be relatively easy to add vehicle tracking functionality. That is where I would look for bank responses to OnePay."


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