UniRush Launches Bill Payment for its Growing Card Base

UniRush Financial Services, a unit of UniRush LLC, New York, today announced an agreement with Milwaukee-based processor Metavante Corp. that allows holders of its prepaid Rush Visa card to use cash accounts linked to the card to make electronic bill payments. The service went live Friday, UniRush says, and is available on all 300,000 prepaid cards the company has issued since introducing the product in March 2003. Cardholders can pay any of 20,000 billers through the accounts, which are held at Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co., the card issuer, via a toll-free phone call or on the Web. The fee for each transaction is $1. Cardholders can also add billers via the phone or online. Craig Marshall, president of UniRush, says 30% of cardholders have been writing checks against their card accounts to pay bills, and he expects that at least that many will use the new electronic service. About one-fifth of the cardholders have Internet access, he says, but “that's slowing growing.” He projects the company will have tripled its card count by the end of the year, given its experience to date. It expected at launch to have issued 90,000 cards by year-end 2003, but ended the year with 250,000. The card, which is primarily intended to serve persons without traditional bank accounts, can be funded by direct deposit of paychecks or government benefits, as well as by money order. Cardholders can access their accounts at 800,000 ATMs. The card is an outgrowth of the merchandising business of Rush Communications, founded by rap-music impresario Russell Simmons. Rush, which sells such goods as mobile phones and apparel, found many customers asking to have orders shipped cash-on-delivery. Since the company does not offer COD service, it started the prepaid Visa card. “When we looked at this audience we saw there was a need for an ability to pay,” says Marshall. He adds that Metavante's system will allow users to track their bill payments, which should be “a valuable tool for somebody living in a cash economy.” Rush estimates there are 48 million unbanked Americans. UniRush is a joint venture between Rush Communications and UniFund Corp., a Cincinnati-based buyer and seller of distressed-debt portfolios.