Attached is a short list of the recommended cards as either being new and noteworthy, great value or great functionality. I've split this by sector with a short overview of customer requirement and attached a URL to help your research.
Anybody considering running their own prepaid platform should apply for best cards in the market and 'live prepaid'. You'll get ideas on how to improve the user experience everyday.
Prime Audience - I've got a debit and credit card - why bother with prepaid;
1) Foreign Exchange
For the easiest buying experience - wander into a Thompson or First Choice and walk out with a card. For the most competitive go on-line and search for either FairFX or CaxtonFX. My personal favourite, and this is because their customer service is light years ahead of the rest is Currency Solutions.
When buying a travel card, you must make sure you can check the balance AND top-up via SMS which has saved me running out many a time.
New products coming to market in Quarter 1 will be South African Rand card which has got to be the safest way to carry money to the World Cup offered by Prepaid Financial Services.
2) Mobile Experience
We should all thank O2 for their advertising spend which has raised the awareness of prepaid amongst the masses. Let's hope their six figure cost of acquisition is the start of a journey towards m-banking. It's the best prepaid account we have on our mobile at the moment so we should celebrate what it does, not it's short comings. 7/10 first attempt - apply for yours, use it and you'll be flooded with ideas how to improve it.
3) Contactless
Alas, nothing interesting here yet. Surely prepaid is the right product for open-loop contactless with additional access control a natural 'chip' buddy. Watch this space but to date the financials are killing all natural applications taking off.
Underserved - I want a MasterCard or Visa and pay-as-you-go is best for me;
1) Pay-As-You-Go
O2 is the cheapest, they must be losing a packet so I question whether it's sustainable. Until then fill-your-boots. The programmes that have lasted the test of time, built volume and remain solid include Virgin Money, APS, Tuxedo and Bread. All pretty samey but Virgin Money in my book offer the simplified due diligence of guaranteeing a card to everyone regardless of electronic KYC pass.
2) Pay Monthly
Previously prepaid offered cards with a % applied to domestic spend, typically around 3%. However this became an expensive 'budgeting' tool when cardholders were loading and spending £500+ so a monthly fee card because the alternative. These waive the domestic spending fee in return for a monthly fee of circa £5.
This can be a shock to anyone thinking they get free banking but to these people I'd ask them to look at their bank charges over the last twelve months including overdraft fees, overdraft interest, late payments etc. No such thing as a free lunch.
Money Remittance - I get paid in cash or cheque, I have high costs to send money home to friends and family;
1) Twin-Pack - I want to send money home quickly, securely and with much lower costs than the money transfer agents.
Not as many of these cards as there used to be, mainly because most of the companies that set these up were 'get rich quick mentality' and have disappeared luckily in the direction that they came. However, the PFS card you can select a second card and enable card to card transfers. This is the fastest and cheapest way to do international money remittance.
https://www.prepaidfinancialservices.com/Apply.aspx
2) Payroll - I'm a business that pays cheques or cash to largely unbanked be it students, casual workers or migrant workers.
The most professional company I've come across is Modus. They work with Raphaels and have been managing payroll prepaid for smaller companies such as temping agencies and industries that employ a lot of casual staff such as construction, seasonal agriculture and low pay service jobs like cleaning. www.myonepaycard.com
3) Payroll - I'm a customer and I'm fed up being paid cheques, I want instant access to my money.
There is a card called Premium which is designed to be taken out by the individual and then they can give a 'form' they have downloaded from their on-line account servicing page to their employer so they can pay on to their card as a virtual bank account as opposed to via cheque. http://www.mypremiumcard.co.uk/
If like me you're amazed by the lack of choice or real prepaid card offerings out there in the market, even though the functionality available is light years ahead of most bank accounts or payment cards, then be inspired to build your own product for your business.
Join the prepaid revolution.