Kuwait Finance House Co. Ltd. has begun issuing a Visa-branded prepaid card in Kuwait, a spokesperson for the Kuwait City-based bank tells PaymentsSource.
The Al-Ousra card is an Islamic prepaid card issued to an entire family or to a specific group of individuals instead of to a single individual, according to the spokesperson.
“A customer can buy a minimum of two cards and a maximum of seven cards, which can be issued to all direct family members as well as to maids and drivers,” he says. “On the back end, the card is connected to a single prepaid account that only the primary user can top up” and monitor account activity.
The card enables the primary users to centrally control and manage their families’ monthly expenses, the spokesperson says. Cardholders may use their cards to shop wherever Visa is accepted or to access cash at Plus ATMs in Kuwait.
Kuwait Finance House is donating 0.5% of every sale initiated with the cards to help enable the poor to attend the Islamic holy city of Mecca for pilgrimage, the spokesperson adds.
The issuer also is giving Al-Ousra cardholders the chance to enter a drawing to win an Apple Inc. iPad, the spokesperson says. Under the promotion, which ends Aug 11, cardholders receive multiple chances to win for every 10 Kuwaiti dinars (US$34 or 28 euros) they spend.
“Clients will get 20 chances to enter the drawing when using Al-Ousra prepaid card,” the spokesperson says. “This offer excludes cash withdrawals and chances taken by secondary cardholders will be included in the primary cardholder’s 20 chances.”
