Walgreens & WU
Walgreens, the nation’s largest drugstore chain, this month launched Western Union Bill Payment services staged via digital self-service kiosks, allowing customers to make payments to 15,000 billers across the U.S. and beyond.
WU & Apple Pay
Consumers now making Western Union transactions at kiosks in over 7,600 Walgreens and Duane Reade locations nationwide also have the ability to utilize the Apple Pay service.
Apple Pay Roll-Out
Apple Pay’s first day was filled with merchant acceptance announcements including Walgreens, Petco, Groupon, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and MasterCard, in addition to the announcements made following the unveiling of Apple Pay last month.
Apple Pay Day
The “ApplePay Day” is Monday, October 20, 2014, a day that might live into infamy in the payments industry. Next week, American consumers will be able to start making payments with the touch of a finger.
Apple Pay Icon
The US Patent & Trademark Office last week published Apple’s latest trademark filing for their updated “Passbook” icon which adds the new Apple Pay component to the top layer of the icon. The actual filing was made September 29.
Walgreens Balance Financial
The nation’s largest drugstore chain is adding a new Western Union stage-and-pay kiosk to streamline the money transfer process. The new service will expand Walgreens Balance Financial platform which already includes a prepaid card.
Apple Pay
Move over plastic credit and debit cards Apple will be bulldozing its way through the mobile payments market with Apple Pay. The new enhancement works with the new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and the new Apple Watch.
American Express Serve Deploys Money Management Capabilities
American Express Serve announced its nationwide cash load network and the addition of new money management capabilities to its full-service reloadable prepaid account. It features Direct Deposit, Bill Pay, Mobile Check Capture, Personal Financial Management Tools, and Reserve, which allows customers to put money aside for future expenses. The Free Cash Load Network allows American Express Serve customers to take cash to the register at more than 14,000 participating CVS/pharmacy and 7-Eleven stores and add it to their American Express Serve Account on its own Vanilla Reload Network. The can also add their paycheck or government disbursements directly into their Account through Serve.com and use their smartphone camera to snap a photo of a check and add it directly into their Account using the Serve mobile app. American Express Serve will charge a monthly fee of $1 beginning December 3, 2013.
Heartland Financial Elects New Board Member
Heartland Financial USA announced Duane E. White was elected to the company’s Board of Directors. White is a founding director and investor in Minnesota Bank & Trust, a Heartland subsidiary established in 2008 with current assets of $127 million and a partner at Aveus, a management consulting firm. In his role, Mr. White provides executive level consulting to a variety of firms, focusing on improving performance and enhancing shareholder value with a particular focus on the financial services and health care industries. Prior to joining Aveus, he served as Managing Director at Polihua Holdings LLC, a consulting firm working with companies in the financial services and healthcare industries. Through his position with Polihua Holdings, Mr. White served as a consultant to Total System Services, Inc. (“TSYS”), leading TSYS’s healthcare initiatives, eventually joining the company as President of TSYS’s healthcare division.
Prepaid Resources Partners IDology, Prevents Fraud
Prepaid Resources prepaid debit and banking technology partnered IDology to incorporate advanced identity verification and pre-screening solutions. IDology will implement the Prepaid Resources “FraudGuard” fraud security services. The FraudGuard solution protects against unauthorized direct deposit enrollments. Using Prepaid Resources’ award-winning “BenefitsDirect” ‘Direct Deposit Management’ application. IDology is a provider of real-time technology solutions that verify an individual’s identity and deter fraud anywhere in the payments value chain.
KashFlow Names New Vice Chairman
KashFlow cloud-based accounting software company has appointed seasoned software CEO Raj Patel as Vice Chairman. Following 5 years as CEO of global business software company, Exact, Raj has been working with KashFlow for the past nine months in an advisory position and bought an equity stake in the accounting software business. The support for the Executive team that Raj will bring will allow Founder and CEO Duane Jackson more time to investment in youth startup projects.
Prepaid Resources to Present at FinovateFall 2012
Prepaid Resources been chosen to present at FinovateFall 2012 through a competitive application process, for which it will showcase its BenefitsDirect, ‘Direct Deposit Management’ solution. The BenefitsDirect solution engages accountholders through multiple touch points to direct deposit their Federal benefits, State benefits and payroll; tracks resulting direct deposit activity from enrollment to termination; reacts to new direct deposit opportunities as ‘life events’ occur, such as unemployment, child support and job changes; and succeeds in multiplying revenue growth by building recurring deposits and increasing accountholder retention. BenefitsDirect users include AccountNow, Blackhawk, FSV, Jackson Hewitt, NetSpend, Pay-O-Matic, PreCash, Western Union and others.