Prepaid Cards

The year 2012 could mark a milestone for the prepaid card industry. That's when load volume on so-called open-loop, or general-purpose, prepaid cards could surpass load volume on closed-loop cards, if predictions by Mercator Advisory Group Inc. prove true. Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator recently released several prepaid market reports, the latest …

In yet another move that could shake up the financial world and boost electronic payroll cards, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is eliminating paper checks for employees. Under the new payroll program, employees who don't have direct deposit will be issued a MasterCard-branded payroll card through the First Data Money Network Payroll …

The increasing popularity of reloadable prepaid cards, particularly among the unbanked and underbanked, has begun to raise alarms among consumer advocates who view the cards as subject to capricious pricing and lacking important protections offered on bank cards. And, as larger merchant and other enterprises become active in issuing these …

It's now official: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has become a major distributor of walk-in electronic bill-payment services. Processor Fiserv Inc. announced that 3,755 U.S. Wal-Mart locations now offer standard and next-day bill payments from Fiserv's CheckFreePay service. The service enables customers to pay 2,500 utility, credit card, phone, insurance, and other …

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) …

Fifth Third Bank will be offering global money-transfer services at its 1,300 branches in 12 states under an agreement The Western Union Co. announced Monday. The new service is part of the Cincinnati-based bank's ongoing effort to provide services to the unbanked and underbanked, Mark Erhardt, senior vice president of …

So-called third-party checks represent a potentially lucrative niche market for remote deposit capture, and now a biometric-authentication vendor has been granted a patent for a process by which such checks can be authorized and imaged for deposit under Check 21 rules. AllTrust Networks, which announced the patent last week, now …

Contrary to some perceptions, there is no wall separating the customer bases of banks and check-cashing stores. Many consumers patronize both financial entities. And, according to a new report from Aite Group LLC, banks could win more business from consumers who heavily patronize check-cashing stores by adding walk-in bill-payment services …

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a sweeping credit card reform bill that leaves out retailer-backed regulation of interchange. The bill, which the Senate sent to the House Tuesday, includes a Congressional interchange study and could open the door to controls on gift cards. The House earlier …

MasterCard Inc. is getting a big boost from The Travelex Group, a multinational distributor of travel-related prepaid cards. Under a deal announced last week, Travelex will convert its payment card network brand to MasterCard and process card transactions on MasterCard's year-old debit processing platform called Integrated Processing Solutions, or IPS. …