Metavante launches pre-paid plastic card service

by Gill Montia

Story link: Metavante launches pre-paid plastic card service

Metavante Technologies, the card payments processing company, has joined forces with NewVoiceMedia, which specialises in hosted telephony, to provide a new service that will allow users of pre-paid plastic cards to receive information about their accounts over the telephone.

The system should enable card issuers to reduce costs because it is sufficiently secure to allow even PIN numbers to be retrieved by phone.

Currently, pre-paid PIN numbers are posted to the recipient’s home address, leaving the cards exposed to the danger of interception.

The company expects to have its first customer operational by the end of April and is working with 10 other clients who are interested in the project.

Metavante points out that calls can be made from worldwide locations and estimates that modification of the service to meet the specific requirements of customers will normally be completed in under a week.

European growth in the use of pre-paid cards is expected to remain strong during the coming five years.

The cards are particularly useful to employers of migrant or causal labour and for workers who are travelling and running up company expenses.

While the new development is aimed at the pre-paid market it could also be used by issuers of credit and debit cards.