Prepaid cards

Microsoft Corp.'s Microsoft Points, a virtual currency used to buy games and other digital media on its Xbox consoles, is being eliminated today.

MasterCard's biometric security venture with the South African Social Security Agency has helped the agency distribute more than 10 million active MasterCard debit cards throughout the country.

Bitcoin Ventures Inc.'s new CoinTap allows consumers to obtain bitcoins by purchasing a stored-value card in retail stores.

Social payment provider Akimbo has launched a co-branding platform that enables banks and credit unions to offer Visa prepaid cards that connect to Facebook accounts for money movement.

UniRush is finding that the audience for prepaid cards is going well beyond the underbanked. The company, which offers the prepaid RushCard, is responding with a new approach to better appeal to this new audience.

A federal judge raised the possibility that banks will have to repay billions of dollars to merchants, but legal experts say the court lacks the authority to enact such an order.

Travelex Currency Services has joined with MasterCard to offer U.S.-based travelers a prepaid card that handles currency conversion and uses EMV-chip security.

In another move to win over video game devotees, American Express Co. created a League of Legends-branded prepaid card, which could be more fitting than its earlier efforts to appeal to gamers.

The Federal Trade Commission has proposed additions to the Telemarketing Sales Rule that could have unintended consequences for the underbanked.

Google reportedly plans to discontinue allowing consumers to use its mobile wallet for contactless loyalty and gift card redemption, the latest in a series of changes since Google Wallet's launch.

Sunrise Banks, based in Saint Paul, Minn., has never shied away from issuing an experimental prepaid card in its mission to help the underbanked find financial stability.

Russell Simmons is playing the part of a doorman and a cab driver in new TV ads for his prepaid RushCard, which is undergoing a rebranding this year.

As mobile wallets expand their services, they more closely resemble full-fledged bank accounts. And PreCash Inc. says it can do at least one job better than banks do today.

Alberta's government used Datacard Group's instant card issuance system to provide funds to residents who evacuated their homes following flooding in southern Alberta.

Virtual Piggy, which provides an online youth payment system, now offers digital gift cards on its website through a deal with the prepaid card company InComm.

True Link Financial Inc. has launched a prepaid Visa card for the elderly, with a set of customizable restrictions more commonly associated with cards designed for teens.

Customizable card designs are not just for people wanting photos of their cats emblazoned on their credit cards. Such an offering also has a role at government agencies to help combine ID cards and payment cards.

Prepaid cards, widely accepted by the underbanked as a way to facilitate spending, are also emerging as a catalyst for saving and an alternative to short-term credit.

Prepaid card fees have plagued otherwise successful entrepreneurs and celebrity endorsers, including Suze Orman the Kardashian Sisters and Justin Bieber. But to prepaid card users, fees have left the spotlight.

In the payments industry, point of sale technology has become the "hottest area" of interest for companies considering an acquisition, according to the investment bank Berkery Noyes.