Green Dot, UniRush Prepare ‘RushCard Live’ GPR Card Rollout (April 8, 2013)
Aiming to capitalize on the combined strengths of two of the prepaid industry’s most potent marketing forces, Green Dot Corp. and UniRush LLC today unveiled the RushCard Live Reloadable Prepaid Visa Card, which will be rolling out later this month at thousands of Green Dot retail partner locations. Leveraging the popularity of UniRush LLC co-founder and music industry impresario Russell Simmons’ core prepaid RushCard GPR product sold exclusively online or through direct-marketing telephone channels and Green Dot’s retail distribution muscle, analysts suggest the new card could help both companies reach new customers and expand their respective market share. Expected since the two companies last year announced plans to make Green Dot Bank the exclusive issuer of the retail version of the Visa Prepaid Rush Card—building on a 2010 reload partnership UniRush inked with Green Dot—observers say the new product’s rollout is well-timed. “It gets UniRush into retail, and now Green Dot has a partner with deep experience in marketing prepaid cards online and to specific audiences. It leverages both companies’ resources in a consolidating market,” Madeline Aufseeser, a senior analyst with Aite Group, tells Paybefore.
The RushCard Live offers fairly standard prepaid card features, including a choice of usage plans and surcharge-free ATM access through the MoneyPass ATM network. Cardholders may use the card to pay bills online and check account balances and transactions in real time through a mobile app, the companies said. The new product “has the potential to significantly expand” UniRush’s market share by enabling customers to buy it through retail stores nationwide, said UniRush CEO Rob Rosenblatt.
Green Dot CEO Steve Streit said he expects RushCard Live will help expand Green Dot’s “overall category sales.” Streit previously noted its distribution deal with UniRush is part of Green Dot’s strategy to focus on marketing prepaid cards more effectively to specific customer segments.
