This story was updated with more information from its original version.
Vantiv Inc. on May 1 announced the launch of a single-load prepaid MasterCard gift card that participating financial institutions may cobrand and cardholders may use wherever MasterCard is accepted in the United States.
The card is the second open-loop product to join the family of Vantiv Prepaid gift cards. Vantiv introduced general purpose reloadable cards to its clients in late 2011 (
"Vantiv now offers a comprehensive suite of debit, credit and gift [cards] built on an integrated, single point-of-entry platform," Bill Weingart, Vantiv chief product officer, said in a press release. "By consolidating all of their needs to one provider, on one platform, our financial-institution customers are able to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and respond to market changes faster and with more confidence."
The cards also support PIN-based purchases on Vantiv’s Jeanie or Discover Financial Services’ Pulse networks, but not ATM access.
The issuer sets the purchase price for the card and also may charge a fee to work with a live customer-service agent if necessary for assistance; all voice-response and Web inquiries are free, says Vantiv spokesperson Lynn Rhoads.
Issuers also may charge a monthly maintenance fee in states that allow dormancy fees, but no monthly charges would be assessed in the first 12 months of ownership, Rhoads says. And, where allowed, issuers may charge a card-replacement fee, she adds.
“In many states the cards never incur a fee outside of the purchase price, and cards will be replaced to cardholders if the valid-through date is exceeded, meaning that in states which require it the cards will never expire,” Rhoads says.
The demand for open loop prepaid gift cards is still increasing, according to the Mercator Advisory Group, an independent payment and banking research firm.
Mercator estimates that in 2012, consumers will load more than $18 billion into open-loop prepaid card accounts across 18 million cards sold. The company projects the total to grow to almost $24 billion loaded across 430 million cards by 2014, according to the release.
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