Real Value Seen In StoredValue

WASHINGTON - (04/20/06) – Increasing numbers of creditunions are offering a stored value card product to the regularcredit and debit cards provided members through Visa andMasterCard. Credit unions ave expanded their use from thetraditional gift card and are now offering stored value products tohelp them capture the unbanked; as reloadable allowances fromparents for college or teenage kids; some credit unions aremarketing them as reloadable travel cards, according toparticipants in CUNA’s annual Payment Systems Conference.Other credit unions are marketing them to through select employeegroups as payroll cards, and offering inducements, like apercentage of the interchange fees on transactions with the cards.There are as many as 100 vendors now selling some kind of storedvalue product to credit unions, according to Eric Kenealy, head ofKenealy Consulting Group, and a former corporate credit union CEO.“Put stored value in your strategy plan for 2006-2007,”Kenealy, recommended to participants.