MasterCard Partners With Western Union on Prepaid Reloads

Prepaid card providers continue to expand access and convenience as the market for reloadable payment products grows across the United States. A new partnership between Mastercard and Western Union will allow consumers to reload eligible prepaid cards at tens of thousands of retail locations nationwide. The collaboration highlights the increasing importance of cash reload networks in the prepaid ecosystem, particularly for consumers who rely on alternative financial services and value convenient ways to add funds to their accounts.

A joint announcement from MasterCard and Western Union indicates the latter has become a RePower reload partner:

All cardholders with MasterCard® rePower®-enabled prepaid cards issued by any bank in the U.S. can now reload their cards at more than 45,000 Western Union Agent locations in the United States, making it easier and more convenient for more people to add funds to their prepaid accounts.

Perhaps the most innovative aspect of this announcement was buried at the end of the press release, where a limited time offer for free reloads was announced:

For a limited time, customers with prepaid cards issued by a U.S. issuer participating in the MasterCard rePower network will be eligible to receive a free reload at participating Western Union Agent U.S. locations. For more information, cardholders should visit their issuer website.

The most difficult aspect of getting a cardholder to use a reload location is simply getting them into the store the first time, so perhaps free reloads will end up moving the dial for Western Union and MasterCard. We, however, were unable to find this offer extended to cardholders at the three MasterCard program manager web sites we visited.

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Tags: Prepaid