With a large portion of the U.S. population being unbanked or underbanked, prepaid cards have stepped in to assist this market with the ability to facilitate monetary transactions through a pseudo/checkless checking account. Rather than waiting for an income tax check to come in the mail, many consumers choose a prepaid debit card to facilitate their access to their return.
“The partnership with Green Dot is important to our mission of turning tax payers into tax slayers by making it easier and more convenient to e-file taxes and take control of their refunds for bills, savings or a fun splurge,” said Seth Babb, Director of Consumer Products for TaxSlayer. “With the new TaxSlayer Prepaid Visa Card, our customers can experience the same value and ease of use in banking all year long as they have come to expect from us during tax season.”
Most if not all of the tax preparers offer a prepaid debit card of their own or access to one of the major prepaid brands, Green Dot, Netspend, PayPal or Amex.
What is more interesting is the “Banking as a Service” platform announcement by Green Dot, that will provide ongoing portfolio and program management services. It will be very interesting to see how this new platform performs compared to the previous one and how it will stack up against the new fintech players that are entering the market.
“Green Dot’s Banking as a Service Platform is designed to provide leading companies, like TaxSlayer, with the technology, tools and regulated banking services required to design and deploy best in breed, technology-forward banking products to their customers and partners,” said Seth Ross, Green Dot’s SVP of Business Development.
The TaxSlayer Prepaid Visa Card, issued by Green Dot Bank, Member FDIC, is a full-service reloadable prepaid debit card account featuring free early Direct Deposit, free Bill Pay, a large network of fee-free ATMs and no overdraft fees or penalty fees of any kind.
Overview by Sue Brown, Director, Prepaid Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
