H&R Block Tests Mobile Banking For Its Prepaid Emerald Card

H&R Block has started testing mobile-banking services for its Emerald MasterCard, the company announced yesterday. Cardholders can use the service to check balances and receive account-reload alerts on their mobile phones, the company says. H&R Block plans to conduct a test through the summer and then provide the service to all its Emerald Card customers throughout the summer, says Kevin Morrison, assistant vice president of products for H&R Block. Metavante Mobile Financial Services, a division of Milwaukee-based Metavante Corp., and Monitise Americas, a joint venture of Metavante and London-based Monitise plc, is providing the service to H&R Block. Metavante provides the processing for Emerald Card transactions and Monitise provides the connection between Metavante and the telecommunications companies, says John Focht, division president of Metavante's issuing solutions group. H&R Block distributed 2.6 million cards this tax season, up from 2 million cards last tax season, Morrison says. Customers use the cards to receive tax refunds and can sign up to have payroll checks deposited to the cards, connect them to lines of credit and savings accounts, and link to funds-transfer services. H&R Block has 13,500 offices across the United States where consumers can sign up for an Emerald card, the company says.