Prepaid cards receive high marks from financial health organization

by. Konrad Christensen

The prepaid industry recently earned an A- for quality from the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI).

The scorecard measured 18 prepaid cards against the CSFI’s recommendations outlined in its “Compass Guide to Prepaid and its Compass Principles.” The guide offers recommendations for prepaid issuers on how to improve the design and delivery of prepaid products.

The overall grade of A- indicates that prepaid cards currently meet consumers’ basic transactional needs and are considered a high-quality financial product. Like the ATIRA suite of prepaid card products offered by The Members Group (TMG), each of the cards evaluated carry FDIC insurance, and 95 percent of the cards can be loaded with cash in person or at retail locations and financial institution branches.

According to the report, prepaid cards currently provide consumers with multiple convenient ways to perform basic transactions and to access important account information. Fee structures foster positive consumer use, and individual fees are effectively communicated to cardholders.

Cards evaluated in the report received a grade of B for customer service and account information. Each of the prepaid cards evaluated had fraud and error resolution policies in place to protect cardholders’ funds. However, consumers did not always have the opportunity to receive monthly statements, as they do with TMG’s ATIRA prepaid cards.

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