Reloadable pre-paid card makes little impact

Apart from the Travelex Cash Passport and other travel cards, the reloadable open loop pre-paid card has failed to make an impact in Australia.

In other parts of the world, most notably among the 'low-doc' immigrant population of the USA, the pre-paid scheme cards achieved significant penetration. Often issued by employers, the cards offer a remittance ability that significantly undercuts the banks, Western Union and MoneyGram.

However with less than one per cent of the Australian adult population officially "unbanked", only brave capitalists have ventured to provide an alternative to the traditional bank account and card.

Marketing company Pinpoint Pty Ltd in Balmain has a non-reloadable universal Visa card, but the reloadable quasi account products have all but disappeared.

While one-use-only branded gift cards and one-use-only scheme pre-paid cards grow in popularity, the universal pre-paid card has not enjoyed the same level of consumer support.

The leader of the pack, at least last year, was BillExpress's Bopo Visa card that seemed to be finally achieving some brand awareness in the Channel Ten gen Y segment before it was dragged down by the death of BillExpress.

Julian Little, the chief executive of BillExpress said back in 2006 that the Bopo card would appeal to the 45 per cent of Australians who were not eligible for a credit card. Those people now have scheme debit cards.
In 2007 Little said the Woolworths decision not to accept pre-paid cards, except its own, would not affect Bopo very much, but there were never more than a few tens of thousands of Bopo cards on issue.

Parramatta-based start-up Technocash is currently trying to raise capital to move its business into the online marketplace/business directory space. The company is believed to be looking for a buyer for much of its card and remittance business.

Brisbane based EMerchants have issued 500,000 cards since November 2004, mainly to businesses looking to manage corporate travel and expenses and staff incentives. EMerchants' pre-paid eftpos/ATM cards linked to the Maestro/Cirrus network are also marketed to the rewards and gift market.

The company used to market a universal pre-paid card called the CashCow card, which worked as a reasonable alternative to the Travelex Cash Passport, but no longer.