Salt Lake City, September 16 / PRNewswire — Access Rewards, a division of Access Development, announced today the expansion of its merchant-funded rewards to prepaid card issuers. Unprecedented 20% cash-back discounts are designed to help differentiate prepaid issuers in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
“Access Rewards gives prepaid issuers a competitive advantage with a turnkey solution that instantly turns any payment card into a powerful savings tool,” explained Kelly Passey, Loyalty EVP at Access, “With reward levels surpassing even the best credit cards, instant value is built in to participating cards to help issuers stand out, build loyalty and increase interchange revenue.”
The program gives prepaid cardholders substantial, automatic cash-bank discounts at over 200 popular online brands, like Target.com, Sears.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Gap.com and ToysRUs.com While typical credit card cash-back programs offer 1-2% rewards, cardholders enrolled in Access Rewards earn up to 20%--with no redemption limits.
As demand for merchant-funded programs increases, Access asserts that programs differ substantially. Passey explains, “With 25 years building successful merchant networks, our ability to manage sustainable and mutually beneficial merchant relationships differentiates us, and is central to the success of our model.”
This strategy has proven effective for Zions Bank, an Access Rewards client that recently reported a 7% lift in new accounts and a 26% decrease in attrition rates with the program. Average transaction levels have also jumped by 11%.
“Access has been the perfect marketing partner for our bankcard needs,” explains Cindy Smith, SVP of Bankcard Operations at Zions. “They understand the importance of differentiation in the bankcard space and how to turn those differences into a ‘top of wallet’ advantage.”
As Access Rewards expands beyond consumer banking into prepaid cards, this differentiation and added value can mean revenue for issuers.
“In a tight economy,” Passey explains, “Access Rewards offers the substantial value consumers seek while making prepaid issuers that partner with Access the clear choice over the competition.”
Access Rewards is available immediately to qualified prepaid card issuers. For information, call 866-714-6103.