Though aimed mainly at debit cards, the Durbin Amendment corrals prepaid cards in a number of ways, as well. Will the restrictions choke off growth in this thriving business? By Linda Punch When the Durbin Amendment passed, major financial institutions issuing prepaid cards thought they had dodged the proverbial bullet. …
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Components: Card Programs, with Benefits
By Karen Epper Hoffman Disbursing government benefits via prepaid cards has become an increasingly popular outlet for public agencies seeking operational efficiency and banks hoping to find new avenues to revenue and client retention. For the beneficiaries of government benefits, “getting carded” is arguably a …
Read More »Don’t Give up on Teen Cards
Components Trae Cassell The disastrous Kardashian Kard notwithstanding, it’s possible to market a successful prepaid card for teens. The key is a proper understanding of functionality, image, and fees. The number of companies hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the teen prepaid debit card market is …
Read More »Sharp Comments Flow into Fed in Wake of Interchange Proposals
The comments are flowing in to the Federal Reserve Board in the wake of the board’s controversial proposals to set a 12-cent cap on debit card interchange, ban exclusive network agreements on debit cards, and give merchants more freedom to direct the routing of debit transactions. To a large degree, …
Read More »Underbanked Remain Closely Wedded to Cash, Study Shows
Underbanked and unbanked consumers who use check-cashing stores rely heavily on traditional payment forms such as checks, cash, and money orders for bill payments and few use electronic payment methods, according to new survey data from Aite Group LLC. While that may not be a surprise, Aite's study shows the …
Read More »A Year Later, 500,000 Takers for Social Security Card Surprises Experts
The U.S. Treasury Department's Direct Express card for Social Security recipients apparently is the right prepaid card at the right time. Treasury's Financial Management Service last week reported that more than 500,000 Americans use the Comerica Bank-issued card, which is aimed at getting Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) …
Read More »Post-IPO, the Bank Card Networks Open up To Go for Volume
This is the fifth installment of a six-part series exploring the growing economic tensions and structural conflicts between acquirers and issuers in the bank card business. Once upon a time, the idea of non-bank access to the Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide networks for payment innovations was about as far-fetched …
Read More »Advice for M-Payments Entrepreneurs: Aim at the Underbanked
For the raft of processors either moving into mobile payments or hammering out business plans to make an entry, the top executive with one company that has been in the market for six years has some advice: Focus on the market made up of people who lack bank accounts, and …
Read More »Visa, MasterCard Entry in Reloads May Aid Unbanked, Hike Income
The bank card networks are staking out major positions in the business of reloading prepaid debit cards, in a move that leverages their existing networks and could give a boost to efforts to bring electronic financial services to the underserved consumer market. At the same time, their entry into reloads …
Read More »Kabira Courts Acquirers, Networks for New High-Capacity Switch
Arguing that U.S. transaction processors face pressing needs for both capacity and faster rollout times for new payment methods, a San Mateo, Calif.-based software company specializing in so-called high-performance transaction-processing systems has begun courting merchant acquirers, processors, electronic funds transfer networks, and high-volume merchants for a recently released payments switch. …
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