Prepaid Debit Card Reviews, Complaints, Etc

Tag: Canada

  • 6 reasons to buy the teacher a prepaid gift card

    6 reasons to buy the teacher a prepaid gift card

    By Donna Freedman

    Teachers get a lot of gifts in December. Some are formulaic: “No. 1 Teacher” coffee mugs, say, or plaques shaped like apples. Some are heartfelt: photos, handmade crafts, cookies decorated by sticky young hands.

    Trouble is, teachers have way too many mugs, plaques, scarves/neckties, candles, pencil jars and picture frames. See, they’re teaching 20 or more kids per year and such gifts add up – or, rather, they pile up until teacher donates them to the charity thrift shop.

    One thing many educators say they’d love to get is a letter from a student (or his parents) thanking him or her for making a difference. This costs nothing but time, and it’s a lovely gesture.  A holiday gift is a nice gesture, too. But in the current mindset of “Experiences, Not Stuff,” why not give a prepaid gift card? Here’s why.

    1. It’s payback. Chances are your child’s teacher is spending his or her own money on the classroom. According to a 2013 survey from the National School Supply and Equipment Association, teachers shell out an average of $485 per year on stuff for their students – and 10 percent of them spent $1,000 or more. Yikes!

    2. It’s flexible. Sure, you could buy a specific gift card to a bookstore or educational supply shop – but a prepaid card gives the teacher a lot of leeway. She can use it at the hardware store to buy items for the science fair displays, or at the supermarket to buy ingredients for punch and cookies on Valentine’s Day.

    Technically she could use it on something for herself. Don’t count on it, though: The Curse of the Teacher leads many instructors to view all gifts in terms of how they might benefit the classroom. (See “$485 a year,” above.)

    3. It’s non-offensive. That candle and holder you bought at a friend’s home party is pretty, but the teacher may have limited room for tchotchkes. (She may also dislike candles.) A gift certificate to The Body Shop might never get used because strong fragrances trigger her asthma. Or suppose you offer a mani-pedi gift certificate only to realize later that you have never, ever seen this teacher wear nail polish; for all you know, she took it as a criticism of her appearance.

    4. It’s non-caloric. Teachers get a lot of homemade treats as well as gift cards to the doughnut shop or the frozen yogurt place. But you don’t know whether he or she is is on a diet, or has health issues that preclude treats.

    5. It’s non-caffeinated. Starbucks cards have become the coin of the realm lately. I even know a dentist who hands them out to patients kept waiting too long. However, not everyone drinks coffee or even tea.
    Besides, your child’s teacher may have one of those diet/health issues and the card wouldn’t be a good fit.

    6. It’s not a coffee mug! Teachers don’t need more of these. Really. Please.

     
    Guest Author Donna Freedman contributed this article. Donna Freedman writes about personal finance for Money Talks News and other websites and magazines, and blogs at DonnaFreedman.com. This article was revised and jointly written by Curtis Arnold and posted on the Huffington Post here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/curtis-arnold/low-fee-prepaid-gift-cards_b_6336082.html

  • Accenture survey: Banks Face Big Threat

    Accenture survey: Banks Face Big Threat

    North American banks that don’t clue in that their competitors now include companies like PayPal, T-Mobile and even the US Postal Service could be facing big trouble. That’s the conclusion of a recent survey and analysis by the consulting companies Accenture titled, “The Digital Disruption in Banking: Demons, Demands, and Dividends.”

    The Accenture survey, which was based on feedback from around 4,000 retail banking customers in the US and Canada, found that evolving technologies and changing consumer attitudes pose real dilemmas to traditional banks. Accenture found that although almost 40 percent of US customers have been with their current bank for a decade or more, a host of factors shows that now is not the time for banks to assume their customers aren’t looking for better options.

    For instance, over one quarter of those surveyed by Accenture said they would consider a branchless digital bank if they opted to leave their current bank. Not surprisingly, the number of younger people who see no reason to visit a branch is high, with 39 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 34 saying they would consider all digital banking.

    Perhaps even more worrying for traditional banks is the fact that almost three-quarters of US customers said they consider their relationship, such as it is, with their bank to be “transactional.” In other words, the bond between customers and banks is paper-thin, which makes two of Accenture’s other findings hardly surprising. More than half of the customers asked said they want their bank to proactively suggest products and services that can help them meet their unique financial needs. Half would also be interested in an analysis of their spending that was future focused and available in real time.

    The Accenture survey also asked bank customers what companies they would consider as financial service providers. This is not merely an abstract question either, given that T-Mobile has launched a prepaid debit card and digital wallet and Walmart now has a partnership with American Express in which it sells the AmEx Serve prepaid card and the Bluebird checking account alternative. Topping the list of companies respondents would consider banking with – not all of them actually offer financial services – are Square, PayPal, T-Mobile, Costco, Apple and Google.

    Being a consulting company, Accenture is also in the business of providing solutions to the problems big companies face. Their answer to the threat faced by big banks has three parts. It includes making the customer experience seamless, regardless of whether someone is making a transaction in a branch or digitally. The second part involves extending a bank’s so-called “ecosystem” by offering more services to customers. And finally, Accenture suggests banks offer personalized digital solutions to customers’ financial needs. None of these steps are easy, but responding to changes in how customers bank seems to be a challenge that won’t go away anytime soon.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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Prepaid Debit Card Reviews, Complaints, Etc