Cash rewards programme for the underbanked
Prepaid debit card company AccountNow has launched a cash rewards program for the “unbanked and underbanked” who do not have credit cards and are usually bypassed by traditional schemes.
The Purchase Rewards scheme gives customers cash credits for using their prepaid cards to make purchases at the type of stores, restaurants and service providers they already frequent.
“This is a highly relevant and valuable program for our customers because it provides them with cash rewards for using their card to make everyday purchases at places where they likely already shop,” said Greg Pacheco, senior VP of marketing at AccountNow.
Based upon a cardholder’s previous purchases, individualized cash rewards offers are presented on their online account pages. The customer clicks to activate the offer, uses their card at that specific merchant, and soon thereafter has a cash credit appear on their statement.
“Providing our cardholders additional value for using their AccountNow card while providing merchants opportunities to increase their business makes perfect sense to us,” said Jim Jones, CEO of AccountNow. “I believe this is especially valuable to our ongoing business because the underbanked/unbanked population very seldom gets these types of offers and may be very favorably inclined to remain an AccountNow customer.”
The rewards program is free to AccountNow holders and is administered by transaction marketing company Cardlytics, which works to secure merchants and offers that are most relevant to the AccountNow cardholder base.
“The underbanked population has been growing dramatically over the past few years, and represents a tremendous opportunity to merchants and businesses who want to tap into this market,” said Lynne Laube, president of Cardlytics.
AccountNow – headquartered in San Ramon, CA – says that around 40 million US consumers do not have established credit or traditional banking relationships.