2013 NCCB in Orlando

A Very Happy New Year!

Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company, www.gulfbank.com, a Louisiana-based community bank has reported a very successful launch of TransCard's latest gift card program, the MasterCard Premier Gift Card. With almost 1,200 gift cards sold since November, they've discovered a great new product to offer in their branches. Ashley Maiorana comments on the program below.

"When we were presented the opportunity to market the new Premier Gift Cards from TransCard, we could barely wait for the shipment to arrive.  To get the sales rolling, we offered an employee contest based on the number of sales per employee, we started a Facebook campaign and gave away a $500 Gift Card just before Christmas and we partnered with a local radio station to promote the gift card on the air and online.  The sales just rolled in and our employees were so excited to see how happy their customers were to purchase a gift card from them.  We look forward to future holiday campaigns and can’t wait to see what TransCard comes up with next."

Ashley Maiorana
Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company
Ashley Maiorana@gulfbank.com

Counter display with colorful card packets

Lining up for online Gift Card sales!

Reaction to our new online Gift Card program has been overwhelming!  Our team of e-commerce elves is working round-the-clock to meet the demand from financial institutions eager to leverage this FREE opportunity to boost the bottom line in the all-important fourth quarter.

It's not too late for you to jump on the holiday bandwagon.  Act now and you can still deliver a branded Gift Card microsite to your customers in the nick of time.  Details on the program are available here.

Roundtable Registration!

Last year's Prepaid Roundtable was a major highlight of the NCCB and this year's Roundtable promises to be even more rewarding.

When: February 17, 2013 • 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. 

Where:  JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes • Orlando, FL

Seats are going fast, so make sure to register now.  Learn about banks' success with prepaid marketing campaigns, product launches, compliance and examinations.

Plus, you'll hear about new program enhancements from TransCard and MasterCard.

New This Year:  Bank CEO Session 1:30- 3:00 PM

Bank CEOs not yet in prepaid can choose to only attend this afternoon high-level session focused on strategic trends in prepaid and industry analysis.

Participation is limited, so register today:

Online Registration

Download Registration (pdf)

Banks celebrate the holiday season with the perfect gift!

This year, our community bank partners will be grabbing their share of the Black Friday holiday shopping action with celebratory Gift Card promotions throughout their branch networks.

They're taking advantage of our standard Gift Card program and our exciting new Premier Gift Card Program to provide their customers with the best holiday gifts for everyone on their lists.

It's not too late to get your MasterCard® Gift Card Program up and running for the holiday season!

Join the hundreds of bank branches throughout the country that are looking forward to a very Happy Holiday.

For information on both our standard and new Premier Gift Card Program, email giftcards@transcard.com.

Pictured here are our standard Gift Card kit and our comprehensive new Premier Gift Card Program, which includes a custom Gift Card with metallic flake underlay, card packets in a range of four elegant colors and custom Display Stands.

Tell it on the Mountain!

Barbara Bair, TransCard Director of Education, has just returned from a three-day  prepaid education summit at Clear Mountain Bank in West Virginia.

More than 75 people attended the sessions, which were hosted by Rob Flockvich, SVP of Retail, and their enthusiastic response is a clear indicator that the program will be a big success.

Thanks to everyone at Clear Mountain for your support!

Pictured here are some snapshots from the sessions.

Update from our adopted school

We had a great visit today with Principal Wendy Jung and her staff at Tyner Middle Academy.

The whole school is very excited about their new TransCard sponsored School InSites website and can't get over how user-friendly it is.

Lots of content has been uploaded and they are discovering new uses for the site each day.

We'll be going back next week to help educate them about formatting images for the web and to start mentoring the students, who are very eager to get more involved.

Our goal is to officially unveil the site in mid-January, so watch this space for updates.

In the meantime, enjoy these photos of some of the many impressive educational displays decorating the halls at Tyner.

Barbara Bair, TransCard Director of Education, just returned from a very productive visit to First Advantage Bank in Clarksville, TN.

During Barbara's visit, the bank kicked off a host of prepaid initiatives, starting with an employee program -- the best way to educate personnel on the value of the prepaid card -- and including the appointment of a product champion and development of a mailing campaign, leveraging TransCard Insights, targeting the unserved and underserved  population in their footprint.

Also in the works are a series of education webinars and a 2013 prepaid marketing plan.

Thanks to Cindy Smith and TIna Rodgers at First Advantage for your enthusiastic support!

First Advantage Card

First Advantage Postcard

Greetings from the ABA Annual Meeting

Good thing we took some photos of our booth before the show started because we've been going non-stop ever since the doors to the Marketplace opened.  Thanks to everyone who has stopped by for making this our most successful appearance yet.

Booth #407 in all its glory

Pictured (l to r) Bill Kroll, President ABA Business Solutions, and Mike Brunner, SVP Business Development TransCard

The ABA Annual Meeting official key card

Netchex goes paperless with TransCard Payroll Card

Netchex, one of the fastest growing payroll, human resource, time & attendance and benefits services companies in America, has fully integrated the TransCard prepaid payroll card in their solution.

Will Boudreaux, Netchex CEO stated, “The partnership with TransCard allows many of our clients savings over traditional live check distribution.”

TransCard CEO, Craig Fuller, stated, “Netchex is a great example of an emerging distribution channel partner collaborating with us and our financial institution partners to take our best-in-class payroll card technology to market.”

Shown below is a photo taken during training seminars Netchex held to introduce the integrated payroll card solution to their sales team.

Attending the sessions, which were led by Netchex co-founder Stuart Etheridge and Chris Stevens, head of operations and client services for Netchex, were Netchex sales team members from Texas, Louisiana, and Atlanta.

TransCard's Tom Britz, who doubled as the photographer, walked the teams through the implementation procedure.

Response from Netxhex customers is overwhelmingly enthusiastic and we look forward to a very successful partnership.

Thanks to Barbara Bair, TransCard Director of Education, for sending us photos of the recent week-long prepaid celebration held at Union Bank & Trust in North Carolina.

It was a prepaid party with all the trimmings including balloons, prizes, snacks and brand new customized promotional materials for two separate Union Bank & Trust reloadable prepaid programs, one geared to parents of teens and one to a broader audience of people visiting Union Bank branches.

Barbara is criss-crossing the country conducting prepaid education seminars for branch personnel at our partner banks.

Pictured at the Unlimited Access tent are from l to r: Eric Sanchez (Brand Ambassador/TransCard); Priscilla Cude (CFO/First Bethany); Jane Haskin (CEO/First Bethany); Josue Murillo (Marketing Specialist/Bank Associate/First Bethany); Marissa Sevilla (Bank Associate/First Bethany); Eduardo Losa (Director of Field Marketing/TransCard).

Check out the official photo album on our Facebook page.

Take advantage of a new government requirement today

June 18, 2012

A new government mandate requires all recipients of federal benefits to register for electronic payment by March 1, 2013. This new program, called Go Direct®, gives two options for payment: having the funds loaded into a checking or savings account, or having the funds loaded onto a prepaid debit card.

¡Posibilidades Ilimitadas!

June 6, 2012

Unlimited possibilities!  Today marks not only the soft launch of our Unlimited Access prepaid MasterCard, which we are  piloting with First Bethany Bank in Oklahoma, but also our first Hispanic marketing initiative with bi-lingual and Spanish language marketing materials.

The possibilities are indeed Unlimited!

You can read more about the untraditional approach we are taking both to the product design and the marketing campaign in our press release.

Whatever’s in a name!

Introducing the “Whatever Card” from Union Bank & Trust Company, North Carolina

Union Bank & Trust has “coined” a very descriptive name for their reloadable prepaid card from TransCard.

Since it can be used for, well, whatever, they’re branding it the “Whatever Card.”

Union Bank & Trust President and CEO Thomas M. Combs stated, “Like so-called ‘megabanks,’ we offer the latest in technology but we have never forgotten our roots.  We are confident that TransCard offers not just a superior prepaid card but the kind of warm, friendly customer service our neighbors have come to expect.”

In addition to their MasterCard® Everyday Prepaid Card, Union Bank & Trust is also marketing payroll and gift card programs from TransCard.

It’s easy to make every day a gift with the handy TransCard Gift Card Marketing Calendar.

Available to all our financial institutions on the TransCard marketing site, the Gift Card Marketing Calendar highlights all the major gift card giving occasions throughout the year and showcases many of the customizable gift card marketing pieces you can access.

You’ll also find reminders to promote the gift card as an everyday gift for any occasion.

TransCard bank partners can log in here now to choose from a special selection of promotional pieces created for Father’s Day.

There's a lot of buzz on Twitter about the upcoming ABA Partners on the Line Webinar," Should Your Institution Be Offering Payroll Cards?", presented by TransCard.

Please Note: This webinar is for ABA Member Banks Only.

Joins with United Bank in reaching unbanked and underbanked in Greensboro, Alabama

TransCard presented representatives from the Hale Empowerment & Revitalization Organization, or HERO, with funds for a new commercial oven for its Pie Lab project, at a ceremony May 3, 2012.

The presentation took place at a public reception at United Bank’s main office in Atmore, Alabama.  Betsy Skiles, the TransCard Business Leader responsible for the success of the United Bank program, represented TransCard at the event.

“In partnership with banks across the country, we’ve been able to offer prepaid programs to residents, like those in Greensboro, who may not have had such a useful payment option previously,” Skiles stated. “We are very proud to be a part of United and HERO’s efforts to reach the unbanked an underbanked.”

United Bank, a charter TransCard bank partner and a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), offers a branded version of the TransCard everyday prepaid card at an innovative branch location within the HERO offices in Greensboro.  Clients there meet online, via webcams and headsets, with staff from United’s Spanish Fort, Ala. branch. United helps clients access the TransCard product and the accompanying financial management tools, and HERO staffers work to make sure they use those tools as they learn to manage their finances.

Watch the video

Teach Children to Save: April 24

TransCard joins with the ABA and our Community Bank Prepaid Program banks in celebrating Teach Children to Save day.

For 16 years this program has partnered banks with students for lessons on the importance of saving. The program has reached more than 5 million students with savings education lesson.

Congrats to 2011 Top Sales Pirate, Morgan Purcell,
the best salesperson ever to sail the prepaid seas!!

Pictured from left to right, Mike "Long John Silver" Brunner, Senior VP of Business Development, Morgan "Captain Morgan" Purcell, Business Development Manager

Kudos to First Bethany Bank & Trust for the excellent job they are doing promoting the TransCard prepaid program on their website.

Carrie Haley, Vice President of Prepaid at MasterCard, interviews TransCard CEO, Craig Fuller, about the success of the Community Bank Prepaid Program.

View this highlight of Prepaid Expo 2012 here.

Now, it's even easier to help your commercial clients cut costs by eliminating paychecks!

TransCard Payroll Cards, now featuring electronic Pay Stubs, eliminate the cost and complexity of issuing paper checks.

Employees can instantly and effortlessly access their Pay Stubs on the cardholder website, where they can be viewed online and printed on demand.

Your clients will be pleased with the time and money they save and equally pleased to be working with you. 

For more information about Pay Stubs contact your TransCard Business Leader.

Congrats to Donny Gilbert and his TransCard Customer Service team for the kudos they received from Mercantile Bank of Michigan this morning.  Mercantile Bank is testing their cards prior to launch and made some test calls into customer service.

Financial institutions working with TransCard will be able to offer contactless payment programs that are either stand-alone or connected to an existing prepaid card account.

CEO Craig Fuller stated, “…TransCard is proud t be one of the select group of prepaid processors that is contactless certified.”

Read the complete release in our Newsroom.

Transcard CEO Craig Fuller (pictured with  MasterCard VP Carrie Haley) preparing to tape an interview at the Prepaid Expo 2012 in Las Vegas.

The ABA distributed a press release today announcing that participation in the Community Bank Prepaid Program had doubled in the past nine months. 

“Regardless of size, banks want to provide the latest products in payment cards,” said Bill Kroll, president of Business Solutions, a subsidiary of the ABA and partner with TransCard in the program.  “Many people see prepaid cards as a safe, convenient alternative to cash, and the banks offering these cards are seeing explosive growth.”

You can read the entire release here.

Light bulbs are going off with bankers who stopped by the TransCard booth at PEC last week and are visiting us at BAI this week. 

Thanks to TransCard Insights, they are seeing first hand the number of households and businesses in their communities that could be served with prepaid products and the metrics speak volumes.

It’s not too late to stop by Booth #618 at BAI.  If you’re not in Las Vegas this week, you can arrange for a demo by calling TransCard Sales at 423-552-5200 or email sales@transcard.com.

In yesterday’s press release, TransCard announced record growth and accelerating momentum from its new focus on financial institutions. “Business at TransCard has doubled since June and active card counts are up 61% since the first of the year, “ stated TransCard CEO Craig Fuller in the announcement.  “This is clearly a direct result of our innovative new business model, which focuses on empowering financial institutions and enabling them to offer prepaid products to their retail and commercial customers and prospects.  It is clear that commercial clients and consumers have a trusted relationship with the financial institutions in their communities and that this leads to greater acceptance and usage.”

To see the entire BusinessWire press release, visit the TransCard Newsroom Press Release.

Are you ignoring a vast group of potentially banked customers?  Visit the TransCard Booth, #310, at Jack Henry’s 2012 PEC – “Navigating New Heights” to learn how you can profitably target the Emerging Class with our suite of non-traditional deposit account solutions.  We have a Free gift for you, just for stopping by and introducing yourself.  March 6-9, Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas.

Thanks to everyone who attended our sold-out Prepaid Roundtable and stopped by our booth at the NCCB in Palm Desert, California.  We were thrilled with the response to the Community Bank Prepaid Program and particularly with the interest in our new program enhancement, TransCard Insights.  This powerful blend of proprietary data and sophisticated software systems takes the guesswork out of your marketing plans and allows for highly targeted, highly effective campaigns.  See for yourself.  Call 423.553.5200 for a demo or email sales@transcard.com.