Prepaid Debit Card Reviews, Complaints, Etc

Author: Chris Warren

  • Walmart Card Cash Offers Home For Unwanted Gift Cards

    Walmart Card Cash Offers Home For Unwanted Gift Cards

    We all know that even Santa Claus misfires from time to time. And the rest of us well-intentioned gift givers are even worse, known for holiday faux-pas such as presenting caffeine averse friends and relatives with a $50 Starbucks gift card. As of Christmas day, though, a program called Walmart Card Cash gives holders of unwanted gift cards from over 200 retailers a chance to exchange them for a Walmart e-gift card that can be used both in stores and online.

    Here’s how it works. Visitors to the Walmart Card Cash website can view a list of the cards that the world’s biggest retailer is willing to swap for one of its own gift cards. It includes a who’s-who of the nation’s best known brands, such as airlines like Jet Blue, American and Southwest as well as restaurants like Taco Bell and Olive Garden and even other large retailers like Target. After you select the type of gift card and enter the card’s balance, you receive an instant offer of how much store credit Walmart will give to exchange the card.

    Although the site boasts that consumers can get up to 97 percent of the face value of the card, most exchange offers are not that generous. For instance, a $200 Home Depot gift card will fetch $172.20 while a Target card of the same amount brings in $193.20.

    Walmart Card Cash is a partnership with the discount gift card marketplace CardCash.com and is in a test phase, meaning that it will be available for the first few weeks of 2015, and possibly longer if the response is strong. According to an article in Kiplinger, the payout rate offered by Walmart Card Cash is more generous than other gift card exchange sites like GiftcardZen.com and Cardpool.com, though those sites offer cash to people redeeming their unwanted cards while Walmart provides store credit.

    Still, for those who want to salvage that holiday present that is more a token of goodwill than it is useful may find Walmart Card Cash to be a gift in and of itself.

     

  • Capital One Wish For Others Launches

    Capital One Wish For Others Launches

    Some wishes are practical, like an infusion of cash to help a 17-year-old entrepreneur grow her candle business and save for college. Others are more emotional, such as a wish someone makes for her “very hardworking best friends” to be able to give their two-year-old an “amazing” Christmas. Each of these wishes, and many more, are entries in Capital One’s #WishForOthers initiative which launched on November 24.

    Launched in advance of the increasingly popular Giving Tuesday this past December 2, #WishForOthers is an opportunity to continue that holiday generosity through December 23, the closing date for entries. In total, Capital One will help grant 275 wishes to individuals, organizations and even entire communities. The entries will be evaluated by an independent judging organization and winners will be selected on criteria that includes originality and creativity, adherence to the mission of making the holidays brighter for others and feasibility (so best to skip anything including unicorns).

    Here’s how it works. Being the digital age, submissions to #WishForOthers must be publicly submitted via Twitter, Instagram or the Capital One or Capital One 360 Facebook pages. Submissions should include the hashtag #WishForOthers and tag @capitalone. People who live in Chicago, Boston, New York and San Francisco can stop by a Capital One Café and make their wishes at a dedicated booth.

    Capital One says that no wishes are off-limits, though basic common sense and decency should be your guide if you plan to enter. That said, there will be a premium placed on creativity, so Capital One encourages wishers use compelling videos and photos to make their case. This being the season of giving, Capital One barely limits opportunities to spread good cheer: You can enter a wish once per day per platform, meaning one Tweet, one Instagram, one Facebook entry per day.

     

  • AmEx and Walmart Double Savings Catcher Rewards

    AmEx and Walmart Double Savings Catcher Rewards

    The rush to attract holiday shoppers and their dollars started before trick-or-treaters donned their costumes and headed out into the night. On Oct. 27, the checking account alternative card, Bluebird by American Express, announced the launch of a “Get 2X” promotion meant to entice Walmart shoppers with even bigger savings.

    Here’s how the promotion works. Walmart customers can already take advantage of the company’s Savings Catcher tool, which allows shoppers to compare the price of items they intend to buy at Walmart with the advertised prices of other national retailers. If Walmart’s Savings Catcher identifies a lower price at a rival store, Walmart customers then receive the price difference on either a Walmart Reward eGift Card or in a Bluebird account. Customers can spend the money at a Walmart store or at Walmart.com.

    The new promotion works the same way, although it gives double the benefits to Bluebird cardholders. To take advantage of the deal, which lasts through Feb. 28 of next year, customers can either go online to the Savings Catcher website or use the Walmart app and scan their Walmart receipt.



    The Savings Catcher tool works as it normally does and searches for a lower advertised price offered by competitors. If it finds a better price, Bluebird cardholders can click on “Redeem to Bluebird,” which will automatically trigger a deposit of double the savings into their account.






    The “Get 2X” promotion is a way to give Bluebird cardholders even more bang for their bucks, says Daniel Eckert, a senior vice president of Walmart Services. “Millions of customers are using Savings Catcher to ensure they are getting the best price on their everyday purchases. Now thanks to American Express, they can get even more back when using their Bluebird Card,” he says. “Bluebird is known for saving people money and now coupled with Savings Catcher, it’s going to put real money in customers’ pockets.”

  • Chase Freedom Lifestyle Index Points to Consumer Confidence

    Chase Freedom Lifestyle Index Points to Consumer Confidence

    Do you remember how you spent the summer? If how Americans spent their money is any indication, families across the nation stuck their collective noses into a lot of books, hit the road and generally tried to improve themselves. That’s according to the recently released third quarter Chase Freedom Lifestyle Index.

    Released each quarter, the Chase Freedom Lifestyle Index is one of many tools available to measure consumer attitudes and behaviors. Unlike opinion polls, the Chase Freedom Lifestyle Index tracks actual spending by Chase cardholders and releases the data in its aggregate form. Given that Chase cardholders represent a broad cross section of Americans, the index can provide a window into consumer trends and reflect overall confidence in the economy.

    If that’s the case, then this most recent iteration of the index paints a fairly rosy picture of consumer mindsets heading into the already revved up holiday season. For instance, the index found that consumers spent 13 percent more on books than they did during the same period last year and 18 percent more than in 2012. Spending on lessons and classes also saw a significant six percent uptick and outlays for sporting goods also rose by eight percent. Some of the increases in spending were also clearly seasonal. The amount spent on tolls rose by 35 percent compared to 2012 – up 17 percent compared to last year – and purchases of office supplies and consumer electronics were also up briskly, a reflection of preparing for an upcoming school year.

    There were some weak areas of spending in the index. Whether it was a lack of good movies or too much good summer weather to blame, movie theater purchases were down by 25 percent. Also down compared to 2013 were toy purchases, which fell by 10 percent. And despite higher prices, grocery spending also was slightly down, dropping by one percent compared to 2013.

    The release of the Chase Freedom Lifestyle Index came on the heels of the results of the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, which were revealed on October 28. Many analysts had expected the index to decline, in keeping with a sluggish September report. But the index rose from 89 in September to 94.5 in October. “A more favorable assessment of the current job market and business conditions contributed to the improvement in consumers’ view of the present situation,” said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at the Conference Board. “Looking ahead, consumers have regained confidence in the short-term outlook for the economy and labor market, and are more optimistic about their future earnings potential. With the holiday season around the corner, this boost in confidence should be a welcome sign for retailers.”

     

  • Will Apple Pay Dominate Mobile Payments? Apple Pay Launch Cheered And Resisted

    Will Apple Pay Dominate Mobile Payments? Apple Pay Launch Cheered And Resisted

    After launching alongside Apple Inc.’s two new versions of the iPhone in September, the company’s digital wallet, known as Apple Pay, officially launched on October 20. While there was no way for people to line up outside Apple Stores in order to use it, early indications are that there is real demand for Apple Pay, which allows consumers to pay for items with a tap of their phone.

    At a Wall Street Journal conference in California on October 28, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that over one million credit cards were activated in the Apple Pay service within just 72 hours of its debut. In order for it to work, users of Apple Pay either manually enter their credit card account information into their phones or simply take a photo of the card.

    In some ways, the rapid adoption of Apple Pay should come as no surprise. The six largest credit card issuers, which together account for over 80 percent of all credit card transactions in the U.S., were early supporters of Apple Pay. So, too, were the three largest credit card networks, American Express, Visa and MasterCard along with major retailers such as McDonald’s, Walgreens and Whole Foods. Taken together, there were around 220,000 retail outlets ready to accept Apple Pay when it launched.

    While Apple Pay was met with enthusiasm by many shoppers, its reception was by no means universally warm. Indeed, as numerous media outlets, including Time and The Christian Science Monitor reported, a number of large stores have taken steps to ensure that their customers can’t use Apple Pay. Drug store chains CVS and RiteAid went so far as to remove the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that Apple Pay relies on to function from the registers at its stores.

    As Time points out, the reason for the rebuke of Apple Pay is pretty simple: RiteAid, CVS, Walmart and other companies are developing their own mobile payment system called CurrentC. The desire by the backers of CurrentC to see it prevail over Apple Pay is also not difficult to grasp. “It’s designed to sidestep the fees that retailers have to pay credit card companies like Visa and MasterCard every time a customer makes a credit card purchase, marking their latest move to duck those charges. Apple Pay, meanwhile, has the support of credit card companies because it keeps those fees intact,” writes Time reporter Alex Fitzpatrick.

    If the resistance and competition Apple Pay faces worries Cook, he’s certainly covering it well. In fact, Cook believes that consumers will ultimately determine which payment system prevails. “You are only relevant as a retailer or merchant if your customers love you,” he told conference attendees. “It’s the first and only mobile payment system that’s easy, private and secure.”

Prepaid Debit Card Reviews, Complaints, Etc