How Big Banks Killed a Plan to Speed Up Money Transfers

You can bounce a check these days within hours but transferring money from your Bank Account is still governed by decades old rules that can cause your money to sit for days in purgatory.

Here is the article from PaymentsSource:

http://www.paymentssource.com/news/how-big-banks-killed-a-plan-to-speed-up-money-transfers-3016022-1.html

Walmart Preferred MoneyCard

It was only a matter of time before Walmart rolled out something more competitive. It's also only a matter of time before Walmart starts some type of rewards program.

https://www.walmartmoneycard.com/walmart/account/legal-info-page?doc=feeplan&productname=preferred

$6 to purchase

$3 monthly service fee - waived with either direct deposit or $500 loaded during the month.

Free cash reloads

Early direct deposit when employer gives notice

Serve Prepares for New Serve

Thanks again for signing up for an American Express Serve® Account.

As a new Accountholder, we wanted to let you know about some important fees and features, which allow us to provide you with even more value and convenience.

• Monthly & Foreign Transaction Fees: In order for us to improve existing features and continue to introduce new ones, beginning on December 3, 2013, we will charge a monthly fee of $1 and a foreign transaction fee of 2.7% on purchases made outside of the U.S. We will waive the monthly fee for each statement period when you (1) add money in any amount to your Account using Direct Deposit or (2) load $500 or more to your Account.*

• Free MoneyPass® ATM Transactions: We recently introduced free ATM withdrawals at over 23,000 MoneyPass ATMs. Visit www.moneypass.com to find an ATM near you.

• Coming Soon - Free Ways to Add Cash at Retail Locations: American Express Serve customers will soon be able to add money to their Account for free at CVS/pharmacy stores nationwide and participating 7-Eleven locations. Stay tuned for more information.

See the chart below for a complete list of all fees for your Serve Account.


American Express Serve Account Fee Summary


Monthly
$1 Monthly Fee
(no fee in NY, TX & VT)
–OR–

No fee until 12/3/2013
$0 with any Direct Deposit during your statement period
–OR–
$0 when you add $500 or more during your statement period



Add Money $0 Direct Deposit
$0 Checking/Savings Account
$0 Debit/Credit Card

Coming Soon: Add cash for $0 at CVS/pharmacy stores nationwide and participating 7–Eleven locations

Load cash using MoneyPak® or Vanilla Reload (Third party fees may apply1)


ATM Withdrawals $0 at MoneyPass® ATMs
$2 at non-MoneyPass ATMs.2 ATM operator fees apply


Foreign Transactions 2.7% on each transaction after
conversion to US dollars

Walgreens New Prepaid will Include Check Cashing

I'm betting $3 to cash a check and deposit onto the card - being able to keep $100 cash at that time.

If you don't have direct deposit and you are a frequent Walgreen's shopper this could be a very good card.

---------------------------

Check cashing for Balance Financial cardholders in the initial 250 Walgreens stores. Cardholders will be able to deposit payroll, tax refund and government benefit checks and can receive from a Walgreens cashier up to $100 in cash from their card account. Additional cash can be accessed without a fee at a Walgreens ATM.

When you activate your Balance™ Financial MasterCard, your Balance® Rewards account can be linked to your card account. Once cards are linked, your Balance Financial MasterCard also becomes your Balance® Rewards Card. Then, just use your Balance Financial MasterCard and watch the points really add up:1

Get 10 points for every $1 spent at Walgreens or Duane Reade stores.

Get 100 points every time you reload in store.

Get 1,000 points when your first direct deposit is made. Then, get 250 points for each month a direct deposit is received.

American Express Brings Free Cash Reloads to Serve Card

Amex brings a lot of new features to Serve, the best being free cash reloads. There is now a $1 monthly fee that is waived when you have direct deposit or deposit $500 in a month.

Free cash deposits at CVS and 7-Eleven stores nationwide along with free MoneyPass ATMs, free BillPay and no fees is very compelling. This is a real threat to US Banks.

I was surprised to learn that the 'Learnvest' service is a paid service other than through Serve/American Express.

Serve did have 'English as a first language' customer service and I believe the $1 waivable fee is to generate some extra revenue to keep a higher level of customer service. BlueBird customer service (unless its changed which I doubt) was horrendous.

Free Cash Load Network: Starting this November, American Express Serve customers will be able to take cash to the register at more than 14,000 participating CVS/pharmacy and 7-Eleven stores and add it to their American Express Serve Account. This is made possible through a relationship with InComm and its Vanilla Reload Network.

Direct Deposit: Serve customers can add their paycheck or government disbursements directly into their Account through Serve.com.

Mobile Check Capture: Later this year, customers will be able to use their smartphone camera to snap a photo of a check and add it directly into their Account using the Serve mobile app.

LearnVest Partnership: LearnVest, a company aimed at making educational financial content accessible to everyone, will provide information designed to help customers set and achieve financial goals and save money. This free educational financial information will be integrated throughout the Serve.com experience.

Reserve: Customers can easily move funds with one time or recurring payments from their Serve Account to a linked Reserve to put money away – and keep it away – for future purchases like a vacation, holiday gifts, or for emergency funds.

Bill Pay: With electronic bill pay customers can pay any bill online using Serve.com and the Serve mobile app.

Free Withdrawals at MoneyPass® ATMs in the U.S.: American Express Serve customers can now withdraw money for free at more than 22,000 MoneyPass® ATMs nationwide. For the closest MoneyPass® ATM location, customers can visit: https://www.serve.com/manage-money/#/atm-access

American Express Serve is now available online at www.serve.com and will be available at select CVS/pharmacy, Family Dollar, Office Depot, Walgreens and Duane Reade stores in the U.S. this fall for a one-time purchase price of $2.95.

Balance Financial Mastercard by Walgreens

"Balance Financial Prepaid MasterCard" from Walgreen's/Duane Reade.

https://balancefinancial.walgreens.com

Balance Financial is currently offered to customers of more than 250 Walgreen's locations in Detroit, Milwaukee and Nashville, with a nationwide card roll out expected before year end and additional financial services in 2014

Has some fees which for the most part can be avoided.

No monthly fee when $1,000 a month is loaded - $2.95 a month otherwise.

Free ATM withdrawals at participating Walgreen/Duane Reade ATM's - no explanation of what that means though.

Bill Pay is 95 cents. They mention an expedited Bill Pay also.

Cash reload at Walgreen's/Duane Reade stores is $2.95.

Daily spend limit of $2,500.

Daily withdrawal limit of $500.

This already has IPhone and Android apps.

It sounds as though they will have special kiosks in stores just for this card.

Apparently Walgreen will begin cashing checks as part of this offering. Maybe they already do in some locations. Probably using Certegy just as Walmart does.

https://balancefinancial.walgreens.com/content/part/nm/MDAxNkUPFfRrPxlbiTCbXhdkw7gK

There is a 'rewards' aspect of this deal that combines Walgreen's purchase, prescriptions and some social/health through their 'Balance' reward program. It looks like every 1,000 points is worth one dollar at Walgreens. If you are a frequent Walgreens shopper this may be for you. Their prescription sales though are more expensive than Walmart by far.

My advice to Walgreen's is to either eliminate the cash deposit charge or lower it to $1.

ObamaCare Mandates a Debit or Credit Card

To those that have no type of bank card, in order to receive Obamacare benefits you MUST have a debit or credit card.

Read the details here:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-29/pre-paid-debit-cards-accepted-anywhere-obamacare-is-available

PayPal Making Moves Towards Becoming a Bank

PayPal has been acquiring companies with what looks like an eye to becoming a full service financial company. They just bought Braintree Systems which is a card transaction processor.

This is the same thing Greendot did before they bought a small bank.

PayPal just needs a small bank to complete the change.

Webster Bank Prepaid Visa

The first area Bank in Rhode Island and southeast Massachusetts to come out with a prepaid Banking card.

Not the cheapest though. $3 a month, $3 to reload at Webster Bank. Free Webster ATM use - $500 daily withdrawal limit. Only 1 free account alert to your phone 25 cents per after that. $2,000 daily spending limit. $3,000 limit maximum on deposit.

The funds availability is more than a little shaky with them saying funds from cash deposits will be available the 'same day'. Card reloads are always available within minutes of a cash deposit in my experience.

https://www.websteronline.com/resources/pdf/personal/FIS_Terms_Conditions.pdf

https://www.websteronline.com/resources/pdf/personal/FIS_FAQ.pdf

GoBank Open to Everyone

This is the best prepaid hands down.

Free cash deposits at any Walmart. Free ATM use - MoneyPass or Cardtronics.

https://www.gobank.com/signup/signup

Watch Out for Your ATM Usage & Fees

I use GoBank and they have deals with Cardtronics/Allpoint and MoneyPass for free ATM usage.
However the Allpoint ATMs are in small business's like Dunkin Donuts, Walgreens etc.
Last week I used three Allpoint machines and they all came back with fees plus a fee from GoBank.

$12.50 in total. Customer service credited me for $10 and I'm still waiting for the other $2.50.

The MoneyPass machines seem to be in Banks and Credit Unions and they recognize the card and do not charge any fees.

50% of All Liquid Cardholders were Unbanked/UnderBanked

http://www.paymentssource.com/news/half-of-chase-liquid-prepaid-card-users-are-underbanked-3014352-1.html

"Jonathan Wilk, the head of product marketing for Chase, said today that 30% of its Liquid customers "are never-banked or unbanked … when you add in the underbanked, it brings it up to 48%.""

GoBank Early Invites

GoBank goes National July 4th but if you want an early taste just like them on Facebook to get in a few weeks early.

It's an excellent experience.

GoBank Customer Service

I had to call them today and the call was answered very quickly. 100% English speaking and very knowledgeable.

Compare that with Bluebird CS.

Loading Cash Onto GoBank

You can load cash at no charge onto your GoBank card/account $1,000 at a time and $2,500 a day.

I loaded $500 today and it was instantly available for use. In addition the Walmart receipt has a transaction number and amount right there. All the clerk had to do was swipe the card and she knew there was no fee. I went to a 10 items or less register where there was no line.

Mobile Payments: a Solution in Search of a Problem

Does anyone really want to have their payment info on a phone to avoid the couple of seconds it takes to grab your debit card from your wallet? A tag can easily be placed on the card to do the same thing.

It's already too easy for thieves to grab credit card numbers by hacking into a database - do we really want our money to be stolen off the airwaves?

This as the US is dragged kicking and screaming into chip and pin cards which are much much safer than our mag stripe cards.

Wells Fargo Introduces New Prepaid - It Sucks Too

Wells Fargo recently introduced their new prepaid card the Stagecoach Card which sucks just as much as their Wells Fargo Prepaid card.

https://www.stagecoachprepaid.com/index.cfm?pageid=g07&ClientKey=Reloadable%20Disbursement%20Card&CFID=1&CFTOKEN=C7ED03863F1C886140D2985EA1718F6C&CFSEQ=2

GoBank National Rollout July 4th

Kmart, RiteAid, Wepay, Tango Card, Rewardable, & check.me all involved loosely in the national rollout.

http://press.gobank.com/

"GoBank is scheduled to be generally available on iPhone, Android and online by Independence Day (July 4), with full availability and promotional distribution in retail.

Marketing relationships announced with online, media, retail and mobile carrier partners.

May 14 – San Francisco – During its presentation at FinovateSpring today, Green Dot Corporation’s GoBank (NYSE: GDOT) announced that it expects to be generally available by Independence Day (July 4). GoBank, a brand of Green Dot Bank, Member FDIC, is the first bank account designed specifically for the mobile device and targets members of the mobile generation who are seeking an easy, fast and fun user experience that provides them with transparency and control over their daily finances. Green Dot expects to market GoBank in the following ways:

Digital Distribution and Marketing:

Along with its presence in the Apple App Store and Google Play, GoBank will be digitally distributed by a number of companies, including WePay, Check, Tango Card and Rewardable.

To generate awareness and demand, GoBank will be marketed through advertising on Twitter and on the Facebook Platform. GoBank will also be featured on the upcoming 12th season of Project Runway. Throughout the season, designers will be able to use GoBank accounts featuring the Fortune Teller, debit cards and person-to-person money transfers.

In-Store Promotions:

Starting July 4, Rite Aid stores will be running an in-store promotion for GoBank at all of its stores nationwide. Rite Aid will distribute free information packets that include an offer for a free custom GoBank debit card with the member’s choice of photo (a $9 value). This promotion will expand to additional retail partners in the near future, including Kmart.

“We believe GoBank has the opportunity to propel consumer banking into the era of the app. As a real bank account issued by Green Dot Bank, Member FDIC, GoBank provides consumers with great technology and an engaging user experience as part of a bank account with no overdraft or penalty fees ever,” said Steve Streit, CEO of Green Dot Corporation.

GoBank offers a consumer-friendly pricing model with no overdraft fees or penalty fees and no minimum balance requirements, with a vast network of 42,000 in-network, fee-free ATMs nationwide. For its monthly membership, GoBank offers a “pay what you want” model, where members can elect to pay anywhere from $0 to $9 per month at their own discretion (like a monthly tip). GoBank members get all of the same account features regardless of the amount they decide to pay GoBank every month. The other fees on the account are limited to a 3% foreign transaction fee, out-of-network ATM fees ($2.50 for a withdrawal and $1 for a balance inquiry), and if the member wants to customize their debit card or order a replacement custom card, it costs $9.

As a brand of Green Dot Bank, Member FDIC, all GoBank deposits are FDIC-insured. Each GoBank account includes a checking account with a linked Visa debit card and a second integrated bank account called the Money Vault that’s designed to be an easy way for GoBank members to put money away for savings. Accounts are demand deposit accounts (DDA) with deposits insured by the FDIC and full Regulation E consumer protections.

$169 Billion Expected to be Loaded onto Prepaid Cards in 2015

The amount of money loaded on general purpose reloadable prepaid debit cards almost tripled from 2008 to 2012, rising to $76.7 billion, according to data from the Mercator Advisory Group Inc. in Maynard, Mass. Mercator predicts that number will rise to $168.4 billion by 201


http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2013/04/16/prepaid-debit-cards-close-gap-on-checking/

Rush Card Moves to Greendot - Gets Competitive

This is along the same lines as a Greendot card. Free MoneyPass ATM usage, monthly fee waived with $1,000 or more loaded onto the card during the month.

This is much better than Rush card's previous versions.


https://www.rushcardlive.com/prepaid/account/FAQs#cardfeesqa