You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Prepaid Debit Cards’ tag.
> Posted by Allyse McGrath, Senior Associate, CFI
#115331525 / gettyimages.com
The Facebook page of JPay, a Florida-based company that provides a range of services to inmates in the U.S. prison system, is calling for visitation pictures – photos of families and their incarcerated loved ones. Happy images seem to echo the company’s statement that JPay is “the most trusted source for connecting incarcerated individuals with family and friends”. Money transfers are one primary element of the connection that JPay and others like it provide. JPay is one of the largest providers in the burgeoning field of financial services for the 2 million-plus inmates in the U.S. prison system. These providers are changing the way that families send money to their incarcerated loved ones and also the way in which inmates receive money upon their release. But has this change been good?
For those that might not know, money sent to inmates can be used in prison for things like making phone calls, sending emails, and buying food, toiletries, and winter clothes. To give you a sense, at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center in Washington State, phone calls begin at $3.13, and emails are 33 cents. When prisoners are released, money accumulated from work in prison or sent from family and friends can be transferred onto stores of value like debit cards.
> Posted by Jeffrey Riecke, Communications Assistant, CFI
A few months ago we shared a post spotlighting Walmart’s popular Bluebird prepaid debit card service, Your Neighborhood Bank, Walmart? As of the past few days, there’s a surprising new entry into this expanding prepaid card space: Occupy. With the mission of providing quality, transparent financial services to everyone, especially to those who are currently denied service by larger for-profit banks, the Occupy Wall Street Movement launched the Occupy Money Cooperative, indicating its first product will be a prepaid debit card.
The Occupy Money Cooperative aims to provide services that differ from those of the U.S. for-profit banking industry, overcoming such annoyances as account-opening requirements, service fees, and lack of branch penetration. Much like a credit union, the Cooperative will be controlled and owned by its members. Unlike a credit union, the Cooperative won’t be a deposit-taking institution or be bound by common bond membership restrictions – anyone will be able to join. Here’s a few of the Cooperative’s pledges, taken from its website. Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook
Twitter
Recent Comments