Well, at least from the perspective that Suze Orman, a major personality, has released a prepaid card. The most common complaint against the Kardashian Kard was that it was marketed to youth and the fee disclosures were insufficient; two problems the Approved Card intends to tacitly avoid:
“Orman, the best-selling author, and Emmy-award-winning television host, launched the card to offer a cost effective alternative to the other prepaid cards and banking solutions that are on the market today. Suze wanted a card that was transparent when it came to fees and put people’s needs first, a place that people could feel proud to bring their money home too.
In contrast to other ways to save, spend and manage money, The Approved CardTM carries no hidden fees and features low monthly fees and special benefits available only to cardholders.”
Of course transparency is in the eye of the beholder and it is likely this product will draw significant attention, so only time will tell how well the product does on that front, but the program manager and processor are clearly pleased to be associated with the product:
“RedWage CEO Sean O’Toole said, “With our partners, we created an alternative for consumers with customizable features and conveniences that set a new industry standard by putting the consumer and their needs first and foremost. The Approved Card reflects the way we at RedWage tackle the barriers to innovation that our clients have come to expect when working with us.”
TxVia Chairman and CEO Anil D. Aggarwal said, “We are pleased to enable The Approved Card. TxVia’s platform-as-a-service (PaaS) delivery model coupled with our highly differentiated servicing solutions —including customer service and risk management — play a key role in helping the partnership realize significant time-to-market, cost, scalability, reliability and security benefits.””