According to PayNearMe’s own website, over 24% of all households in the United States don’t have credit or debit cards and they intend to exploit this untapped cash-only consumer base.

PayNearMe combines a modified cash load network with an application technology platform so that consumers without credit or debit cards — or those who prefer to pay with cash — can conduct a wide range of remote transactions.  By doing so, PayNearMe enables companies in a diverse set of industries to turn millions of American households into new paying customers.  Consumers can use PayNearMe for e-commerce purchases, telephone orders, loan repayments, or to load funds into e-wallets and more at retail locations throughout the U.S., starting with more than 6,000 7-Eleven stores.

Already PayNearMe is a lot like Paypal for the man-on-the-street, enabling the use of a sort of transaction-to-complete system where a consumer displays their intent to buy a product online, goes to a payment location with their voucher, pays there, the merchant is informed of the payment, and the transaction completes. PayNearMe has already spread their network to most 7-11 stores, making it as easy as visiting the convenience store to pay.

PayNearMe has already made inroads with numerous casual gaming outfits, like Facebook, enabling users to purchase in-game items using this method. Amazon.com is also on board. Instead of having to worry about using a credit card online, I could just pick out an item, post my purchase, and then complete my transaction at a 7-11 (or other PayNearMe location) without worrying about transmitting my card online. Much less fuss.

From the looks of their press materials, PayNearMe seems to be angling to replace a lot of what MoneyGram and Western Union already provide, but with a lot more interaction with people-to-business. While they don’t seem to be looking into location-to-location money transfers, PayNearMe certainly appears to be appeasing the market for paying remote businesses—especially on the Internet—with cash rather than having to opt into a prepaid card or other scheme. Something that’s been a barrier for a lot of people who live outside of electronic credit.

Another interesting element of this technology is that PayNearMe’s technology allows for the insertion of custom messages on receipts printed at point of payment. This means that coupons and tickets could be sold in this manner that don’t require any further transactions with the customer. The receipt itself delivered at the payment vendor would become the coupon, ticket, or voucher. This would enable an immense variety of transactions that otherwise would require a visit to some remote office or other force point-of-sale vendors to buy proprietary equipment.

PayNearMe’s paradigm should also have a positive effect for the corner 7-11 as well.

“We want 7-Eleven to be the neighborhood destination for people who prefer or need to pay in cash and to provide all consumers with the same shopping choices no matter how they wish to pay for goods and services,” says Jesus Delgado-Jenkins, 7-Eleven’s senior vice president for merchandising and logistics about PayNearMe. The question in my mind is, are 7-11s already situated in the locations that best serve that 24% of households that don’t use credit cards? Even if they only cover half of the total, they’re still in for a huge windfall.