RegaloCard LLC, a fledging mobile-payments company, announced April 28 it has inked agreements with several prepaid phone card distributors to place its card-based funds-transfer service in more than 100,000 retailers across the United States. The Miami-based company’s service is designed to enable consumers to receive funds from the U.S. to use to pay for products and services as participating store locations in Central America.
RegaloCard did not name the card distributors. Its distribution network previously was scattered across the U.S., and consumers could purchase cards only at locations that also sell prepaid phone cards, such as convenience stores in parts of New York, California and Nevada. The company’s expanded distribution network makes its products available in all 50 states, especially in cities such as Chicago, Houston and Miami that have large immigrant populations.
“We’re following a very large distribution network [for prepaid phone cards] that already exists, and we’re opening up new areas where these [funds] transfers can take place,” Gregory Keough, RegaloCard chairman and CEO, tells PaymetsSource.
Under RegaloCard’s system, individuals wanting to send funds to someone in Central America must purchase a merchant’s prepaid card and scratch off an area on the back of it to reveal a PIN. The buyer then calls a toll-free number printed on the card and enters the PIN and the recipient’s mobile number. The recipient receives an instant text message that contains a redemption PIN.
To complete a transaction, the cashier at a participating retailer in Central America enters the recipient’s mobile-phone number into a dedicated terminal. The recipient then enters the redemption PIN to access the funds for the purchase. (
RegaloCard receives a percentage of the funds loaded into the card accounts from each participating retailer. Consumers pay no fees.
RegaloCard continues to grow its Central American retail network. At least nine retailers accept RegaloCard in El Salvador, including Burger King restaurants and Chili’s Bar & Grill. Earlier this month, RegaloCard announced a five-year partnership with Almacenes Siman, a Central American department-store chain that operates stores in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
In Guatemala, Cemaco, a department-store chain with 10 locations that sell household goods, such as furniture and kitchen appliances, also accepts RegaloCard payments.
Besides having a presence in major U.S. cities, RegaloCard is getting its product into the hands of migrant workers in rural areas, Keough says. Some distributors will drive cars to these rural areas to sell the cards instead of the workers having to go to stores to buy them, he adds.
RegaloCard soon plans to announce card-distribution partnerships with larger retailers in the U.S, Keough says.
