OnPoint Credit Union (based in Portland, OR) will now offer iCashe Mobile Wallet, a tool that allows OnPoint mobile banking users to purchase gift cards over their smartphones. iCashe Mobile Wallet was developed by another Portland-based company, technology developer Tyfone. Currently, about 100 national merchants offer gift cards via iCashe, including Barnes & Noble, Fandango, and Zappos.com.
OnPoint decided to offer the iCashe app to their members for a number of reasons. For one, the iCashe product has NFC capability, although it is not currently incorporated into OnPoint’s product. However, OnPoint considers itself to be a leader in mobile banking services, and the ability to offer NFC to their members at a later date will help them maintain such status. In addition, the product has the potential to generate significant revenue for the credit union.
“Gift cards are discounted on average 7 to 9%” – meaning a $100 gift card might cost the reseller who offers it $91 – “and so for us everything in iCashe has the potential to be upside,” [OnPoint Senior Vice President Jim] Armstrong said.
OnPoint is the largest credit union in Oregon with 226,000 members and $2.9 billion in assets.