Not gonna lie. If I'm short on cash two days before payday, I got to Wal-Mart, buy a few things, and get $20.00 cash back. By the time it goes through, my direct deposit goes through. But at Wal Mart you don't have to write the check, just sign it and hand it to them, and they run it trhough the machine that automatically fills it out. So it takes about as long as a credit card transaction.