Whitebox Launches Reward-Rich Prepaid Card
PaymentsSource | Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Hoping to differentiate its product from others in the marketplace, Whitebox Partners LLC has developed a reloadable prepaid debit card with a rewards program usually associated with credit and debit cards.
 
Whitebox views such general-purpose cards as mainstream financial products, and it strived to develop a product with similar attributes, according to Doug Bobenhouse, president of Whitebox, the new prepaid card division of Total Card Inc. Total Card is a credit card processor.
 
“From a strategy standpoint, we wanted to see what kind of ground was still available, rather than just entering the market with something similar to what was already out there,” Bobenhouse tells PaymentsSource. “We believe this is a program that exceeds consumers’ expectations if you compare it with a traditional demand deposit account.”
 
Consumers who use the Visa-branded Jump Card will earn one point for every $1 they spend on a signature-based transaction. Cardholders receive 2,500 points if they tie the card account to direct deposit and earn the points after their third deposit. The also earn an additional 750 points for any deposit worth $750 or more.
 
Points are redeemable for retailer gift cards, cash back and airfare on select airlines. Consumers also may redeem points for products such as household items from a merchandise catalog. Whitebox is working with a rewards manager but declined to reveal the company’s name.
 
The card also features money-management tools users can access online. For example, cardholders can track transactions and set up monthly budgets.
 
Bobenhouse does have experience with developing prepaid reward programs. Before joining Whitebox last year, he was behind the development of a prepaid rewards program designed specifically for video gamers for Prepaid Solutions USA.
 
The Jump Card is available online, but Whitebox has yet to start a marketing blitz. The company will start some e-mail marketing next week and use other methods over in the next two weeks, according to Bobenhouse.
 
Whitebox is treating the Jump Card as its flagship product and will develop other general-purpose cards based on this initial model.