Wal-Mart to Cash Economic Stimulus Checks for Free

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is allowing customers to cash their economic stimulus checks at their stores or load them onto the company's Wal-Mart Money Card prepaid card, without charging a fee or requiring a purchase, as reported by the Associated Press and published on BusinessWeek.com. Additionally, the company's Sam's Club warehouse stores will also cash the checks at no charge.

The economic stimulus packages are expected to reach 130 million households across the United States.

Latin America and Europe Becoming Prepaid Card Markets

According to a recent report released by Mercator’s International Advisory Service, detailed here at AllPay News, Latin America and Europe are beginning to embrace the use of prepaid cards. Many of the uses of the prepaid cards in these two regions are gifting, transit ticketing, money transfers and general prepaid cards. Some unique uses of prepaid cards have been by government agencies and employers to supplying social benefits as well as payroll payments, either as per diem payments, and card-based vouchers.

Elisa Athonvarangkul, Analyst, International Advisory Service, cites some considerations as companies enter and expand in these markets, “Growth in Latin American and European prepaid markets can be attributed in part to increased consumer awareness of the benefits of this form of payment, in both the public and private sectors. Although prepaid cards may currently be less popular in some emerging markets than they are in developed markets, it is expected that stored-value products will continue to be used in a greater number of applications, and introduce new users to the concept of payment cards."

FirstData Corporation acquires InComm

First Data Corporation, a world leader for payment processing services and electronic commerce has announced in this press release that they are acquiring InComm. InComm is known for its industry leadership in marketing, distributing and technology innovation in the store and prepaid card industry.

InComm, in 2007, had over $300 million of net revenue and $8 billion of retail sales transactions. The goal of this acquisition is for First Data Corporation to be able to offer end to end prepaid solutions for retailers and customers throughout the world.

iAdvance Prepaid Card

The new iAdvance prepaid credit card allows for customers to both receive their paychecks in advance as well as build their credit. As reported by the Credit Card Blog, Meta Payment Systems (MPS) will grant small loans to this prepaid card without having a credit check. The funds are available to the card within minutes. In addition, MPS will report payment and loan history to credit bureaus in order to help raise credit.

The Nike Golf Gift Card

The Beaverton, Oregon, based Nike Golf will now issue gift cards for the Nike Golf Store. Items in the Nike Golf Corporate Catalog range from golf balls to tees, and can now be purchased by this gift card. This new card not only offers a way for employers to thank their employees, but also proves to fit well into corporate gifts and thank you baskets. Read the full article at Manage Smarter.

Legal Parameters for Gift Cards

With gift card sales expected to reach $1 billion in sales in 2008, so are the regulations according to a recent news article at Manage Smarter.

Regulations on both expiration dates and dormancy fees vary from state to state, yet still pose a major problem when trying to regulate gift cards for a national company. So how do companies keep pace with the growing demand? According to Gonzalo E. Mon, the author of the article, the benefits are still numerous when they can adapt their gift card business quickly to the changes.

Special Prepaid Cards for Under-aged Children

In a recent report at PayBefore.com, they announce the new prepaid card that knows the age of the user when they buy. This card is being introduced in the U.K.

This card will have an age verification mechanism feature that will monitor things being purchased by the underaged. While specifically set up to monitor internet purchases, transactions will not clear if inappropriate material is the purchase. All other items can be purchased just as if the youth was buying normally over the internet.