What is Prepaid?

An Introduction

Prepaid is not a new concept. We have all been using shopping vouchers and gift cards for years. Those who live in London don't leave home without their precious Oyster cards. Every time we buy a bus or train ticket in advance we are prepaying for something we intend to use (or give someone else to use) at a point later in time. Traveller's cheques are something that many of us grew up knowing we had to organise before we travelled to another country. Businesses will often maintain "petty cash" to hand out to employees when expenses are needed.

So what is different about this new innovation of prepaid using MasterCard or VISA branded plastic? The answer is convenience, security, choice and flexibility.

When we give a gift for a specific shop's gift vouchers, we are confining the receiver to only that store or chain of stores. What if this is not their preference or choice? It will either not be appreciated or will become a "pass-on" gift to the next person who may or may not want it.

Perhaps we should give cash instead? Possibly, but can you be sure it is going to reach the recipient or get "lost" in the post?

How about if businesses with staff who incur ad-hoc expenses could manage without cash and worry about accounting and storing it? Or those that regularly pay bonuses in gifts or vouchers could give the employee choice on what they spend their bonus on?

Read on to understand how prepaid can benefit both business and consumers or employees.....

Prepaid for business

Salary / Expenses

There are many areas where prepaid cards can enhance the business processes around payroll and expenses. For example, if you employ a number of temporary or unbanked workers it can be a real pain paying them in cash or trying to collect all their bank details (if they have one). However by issuing them a prepaid card that you hold in stock and simply "topping up" their cards with wages is a low cost alternative.

Likewise, if you have outlaying staff that travel frequently who are unable or unwilling to fund their travel or operating expenses, by issuing them with a prepaid card not only can you top-up as and when needed (securing cashflow) but you have a full audit of their spend to simplify the expenses process.

There are numerous other applications within the payments distribution process where prepaid can ease your pain of security and process issues. Talk to us to find out how our team can help you.

Employee gifts and incentives

How do you reward your staff? There might be holidays, prizes, christmas hampers? Each of these while nice may not be appropriate for the receiver. How many staff rewards end up on ebay to be turned into cash? Perhaps you should change the way you look at this? Giving a prepaid card with your own branding on it to sales staff not only keeps your brand "in-wallet" but it is easy to top up with next months "prize or bonus". It is also fits what the employee or agent wants. We can provide programs that restrict where the prepaid card can be spent or leave it completely open? If you don't want to encourage them to just draw it out of an ATM, then this can be blocked. It really is up to your policy to define what your employee incentive program looks like.

Promotions and brand enhancement

Do you give cashback via account credits to your customers or regularly promote your company via gifts or incentives? We can create a unique program for you where your own logo card is made available for your customers in either a single use or re-loadable form. This can be distributed through your own networks to reward for example annual account renewals or certain spend targets being met. The benefit here is that your brand and logo are in wallet and it is a truly unique tool that will stimulate conversation.

Alternatively, rather than have a piece of branded plastic, why not deliver your promotion via your own format such as SMS or email and still benefit from a gift on a VISA branded prepaid tool that can be spent anywhere.

Consumer Benefits

Getting a spending card has never been easier than with a prepaid card. Your approval is 100% guaranteed once you meet the minimum identification requirements. There will be no credit checks or employment verification. You don’t even need a bank account!

Getting a bank account in the UK can be very difficult if you are a foreign national residing or working in the UK. With a prepaid card approval is 100% guaranteed if you provide us with your Passport number and current address (no utility bills or further proof of address required).

For those people who want to control and budget their spending they can set the spending limits by the prepaid amount loaded on your card. You also can log on to the web site to review your spending. Your prepaid card makes it easy to get your spending under control and shop wisely.

The popularity of the Internet makes it difficult to use cash for transactions like booking a flight or train ticket, reserving a cinema seat, and buying products online. A prepaid card allows you to access all these things in the knowledge that your transactions are safe and secure.

If you regularly share money with friends or family abroad you can use a prepaid card to share money with people who live abroad very cheaply. Just order a secondary card, and then post this to your family member or friend. Then you can share your money with them. They will be able to spend using the card or make cash withdrawals from ATMs in their home country.