NFinanSe Inc. today cut ATM-withdrawal and bill-payment fees to promote better cardholder trials and greater cardholder retention. The Tampa, Fla.-based prepaid card marketer offers Visa- and Discover-branded reloadable cards issued by Palm Desert (Calif.) National Bank.
NFinanSe cut ATM withdrawal fees to 99 cents from $1.50, regardless of which ATM cardholders use. The company also cut fees for electronic bill payments initiated with its cards to 44 cents from a $1, and it is not restricting the number of bill-payment transactions. The previous limit was not immediately available.
The reductions simplify nFinanSe’s fee structure, Jerry R. Welch, the company’s chairman and CEO, explained in a statement. “Fees for ATM withdrawals and electronic bill payments through a reloadable prepaid card have simply been too high and too confusing,” he said.
PaymentsSource could not reach NFinanSe executives for comment before deadline.
NFinanSe’s seemingly magnanimous act actually is part of a price-cutting trend among prepaid card issuers, says Adil Moussa, an analyst for Boston-based Aite Group.
“Wal-Mart cut prepaid card fees last year, and other prepaid card marketers followed. No prepaid card marketer wants to be out there with a lot of fees and a card not different from competitors’ [cards],” Moussa says. “At one time, prepaid card marketers charged purchase card fees, reload fees and reuse fees. In a few years, marketers will make money from only purchase card fees and interchange.”
NFinanSe operates 70,000 card-account reload locations, according to PaymentsSource.
