Univision and MasterCard announced a partnership recently to provide new prepaid debit card options targeted towards Hispanic consumers. These new cards promise to provide a culturally relevant alternative to cash and offer valuable financial and money management tools to an underserved population. According to a Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) study, approximately 40 million households within the United States are not adequately served by the financial industry. 19 percent of those under served households are Hispanic.

MasterCard and Univision hope to change this, with the availability of two new prepaid debit offerings set to hit the market in 2010.The Univision Prepaid Mastercard (also called Tarjeta Univision Mastercard Prepagada) and the Univison MasterCard Gift Card will be usable wherever MasterCard is accepted and will offer a host of financial management features that make them superior to cash.

Univison is the premier Spanish-language media company in the United States, and it is hoped that their influence within the Hispanic community will help bring these cards into the forefront, offering a viable non-cash alternative that has the increased benefits and protections associated with the world of pre-paid debit.