At first reflection, prepaid cards may seem a solution with limited bandwidth; suitable only for those with no other means of establishing and maintaining traditional bank and credit card accounts. Yet, as other tools have successfully morphed from their original intention (think Facebook moving from its original Harvard campus setting and transforming into an international behemoth), so have prepaid cards effectively made their journey from one subset into the general population. Prepaids Offer a Better Deal than Checking Accounts The PEW Charitable Trusts, an independent nonprofit organization that has itself evolved — into a global research and public policy organization — as a non-governmental organization, they are dedicated to serving the public. … Read More
Stay in Control with Prepaid Cards
Depending on your age, the traditional prepaid card may have always been a piece of plastic with a designated slot in your wallet. But if you remember a time when they didn’t exist, you know they were a revelation! With banks closed on the weekends and no Automated Teller Machines (ATM), you had to make certain you had enough cash to get through the weekend until normal banking hours resumed or else face having to use your credit card. That was the other thing, you always had to carry cash. Those vulnerable pieces of green paper so easily lost or stolen, so completely untraceable and irretrievable. In many respects, debit cards… Read More
Benefits of rapid! PayCard® for College Students
These days, prepaid cards are more popular than ever. When sending a child off to college, a major concern on every parent’s mind is money. How will my child receive money? What if an emergency happens and their account balance is low? What if they need money for food? This is where rapid! PayCard can help ease your family’s worries. Prepaid cards are easy to obtain and widely accepted. These cards are easy to reload, especially online. With rapid! PayCard money is available as soon as it is transferred – no wait time. So if an emergency situation occurs, or your child is short on money for the month, the… Read More
Take a Vacation with rapid! PayCard®
Hard-working employees deserve a break every once in a while, but vacations always seem to leave the people still in the office in a bit of a crunch. That is where rapid! PayCard comes in. With rapid! PayCard your payroll department has the ability to auto schedule payroll while they are away on vacation. This saves your company from facing the expenses of hiring and training temporary staff while your payroll personnel is out of the office. Gone are the days of traditional payroll where checks were processed, printed and hand delivered by payroll. With the convenience of ePayroll and rapid! PayCard companies and payroll departments have many benefits including:… Read More
Are Prepaid Cards Becoming More Mainstream?
With millions of Americans falling into the category of being “unbanked” or “underbanked,” meaning they either have no bank account, or if they do, they still rely on alternative financial providers to meet some of their needs, it’s no surprise that nearly 10 million households used prepaid cards from 2012 to 2013. That number is continuing to increase and data is showing that the demographics are shifting as well. From millennials to their parents, more people are starting to use prepaid cards for a variety of reasons. Prepaid cards have long had the reputation of being a financial tool for the economically less fortunate, or disadvantaged, but times have changed… Read More
The Next Generation of Paycards and What You Need to Know
In January of this year, the Center for Financial Services Innovation released its Compass Guide to Payroll Cards which defines industry-wide best practices for the design and delivery of high-quality payroll cards and promotes choice, safety, affordability, transparency and convenience. In this post, we’ll outline the three levels that compose the structure of the guide; core practices, stretch practices and next generation practices. Level 1: Core Practices Choice “There is no one-size-fits-all approach to a high-quality payroll card and there is inherent value to choice, diversity and innovation in the marketplace.” Employees are offered a choice about how they would like to receive their wages. Employees are provided clear information… Read More