PayBefore.com

Making a Transaction and Savings Account a Certainty, Just Like Taxes

adminn — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:00:00 -0400

In the Feb. 20 issue of Paybefore Update, my colleague, Melissa Koide, discussed a proposal to use prepaid cards to deliver tax refunds through a unique alliance of government and industry, Viewpoints: A Convergence of Opportunities: Delivering Prepaid Accounts at Tax Time (February 2008). We believe the prepaid sector can and should play a major role in working with government to provide an "assets and transactions account" (ATA), a low-cost, high-value transaction account that facilitates savings for financially underserved consumers. The ATA would be opened when a tax filer's refund is deposited at a regulated financial institution… more

A Convergence of Opportunities: Delivering Prepaid Accounts at Tax Time

Ron Tang — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

What if there’s a way to bring prepaid products to millions of new consumers, with the help of the federal government?

I think there is. By leveraging billions of dollars in annual tax refunds, there’s the potential to deliver a prepaid product that benefits consumers, industry and the government alike. Called the Assets and Transaction Account, or ATA for short, it’s envisioned as a network branded prepaid account that would be delivered through the tax filing process and loaded with tax refunds, to start.

Each year the U.S. Treasury Department issues millions of refund checks worth billions of dollars to tax filers.… more