Pre-Paid Gift Cards Hit The CUCircuit

MOUNDS VIEW, Minn. - (11/25/04) -- Offering credit union members a giftthat's always the right size, never the wrong color and alsoprovides a new revenue stream for credit unions is proving popularthis holiday season as interest in pre-paid debit cards as aholiday gift-giving idea is really taking off at credit unions."Last year there was very little interest in this product at all,but this year, the buzz is just so hot out there," MichelleThornton, of Liberty Card Services, told The Credit Union Journal.Representatives of PSCU Financial Services and Certegy CardServices agreed, noting that credit unions are offering the card asa means of keeping their members from going elsewhere to get them.But experts are warning that credit unions may want to keep an eyelawsuits filed by authorities in Massachusetts, New Hampshire andConnecticut claiming issuance of the cards come under state, andnot federal law.