Green Dot Corp. has introduced a new technology for reloading a prepaid card account without using a reload card.
Green Dot's "Reload @ the Register" uses the Pasadena, Calif., bank's Swipe Interface Technology, or SwIT, to reload a prepaid card account at a cash register instead of requiring customers to go online or dial a phone number to complete the process.
Green Dot's SwIT technology has been in use at Walmart since 2012 and will now roll out to most of Green Dot's retail partners by the end of 2014, says Helena Mao, general manager of Green Dot's reload network, in a March 31 press release.
The system reduces reliance on products such as Green Dot's reload card, called MoneyPak, which is a plastic card purchased in stores to load value to a prepaid account. After buying a MoneyPak card, users go online or call an 800 number to link the funds on the reload card to their prepaid account.
Other prepaid card providers, including American Express and PayPal, have used Green Dot's MoneyPaks as a funding mechanism. Both companies later added alternative funding mechanisms, such as
With Green Dot's Reload @ the Register option, consumers can add funds to a prepaid card account "without having to fuss with the intermediary step of transferring funds from the paper chit to their prepaid card," Mao says.
