PreCash Eyes Bill Pay/Mobile App Combo to Drive Customer Relationships (Sept. 3, 2013)
Payments processor PreCash is combining a mobile app with its bill payment technology to help consumers pay bills with cash, which the company hopes will translate to a broader financial services relationship with PreCash. The Houston-based company’s new Evolve Money service, which is based on its PayConnect online and mobile bill payment platform, includes a mobile app or Web interface that offers bill payments to 10,000 service providers, including utilities, cable companies, insurance and telecom providers, and helps users keep track of their payments.
While PayConnect can be white-labeled by corporate clients, Evolve Money is being marketed directly to consumers, who can use cash to purchase load packs featuring PIN codes at retail locations. PreCash has contracted with Blackhawk Network to offer the packs at Blackhawk’s REloadit merchant network, along with PreCash’s own network of 35,000 retail locations. The company plans to expand Evolve Money’s retail network to 100,000 locations by the end of the year. Once a consumer has purchased a PIN, he can go online via smartphone app or Web and enter the biller and amount to be paid. The user then enters the PIN, and the payment is made using a virtual prepaid account. A standard two-day payment is free, while same-day expedited payments cost $1.50—a rate PreCash is billing as the lowest anywhere.
PreCash is betting its simple user experience and low-cost bill pay, will make customers more likely to turn to PreCash for expanded financial services, according to Alex Vértiz, vice president of product strategy and marketing, PreCash. The company is offering Evolve Money users the option to upgrade to PreCash’s Evolve Wallet, a digital wallet that comes with a reloadable prepaid card as well as remote deposit capture cash reloading, ATM withdrawals, P2P transfers and more. “The trust factor needs to be established with the consumer, and that’s the key to getting a solid [full-service] customer,” Vértiz notes.
