Visa, Inc. and Better ATM Services announced yesterday that the companies have a pilot with three credit unions to sell Visa Gift Cards through the institutions’ automatic teller machines in Arizona. Better ATM has offered closed-loop prepaid cards in the past.
With this introduction, ATM menu screens now include a “Purchase Visa Gift Card” option and prompt to designate the value to load on each card. Cards are available with no activation fee in $25 denominations during the pilot. The new ATM-dispensed Visa Gift card is made of a durable yet thinner material, which allows cards to easily pass through the cash mechanisms of ATMs.
The cards are available with no activation fee during the pilot. While the company did not say when the pilot would end or whether the cards would ever carry fees, it seems that they would need to in order for the program to be self-sustaining, much less profitable. The credit unions will need to market this service to their customers in order to convince them that an ATM is a good source for gifts.
