NetSpend’s History
NetSpend was started out of an apartment in 1998 primarily by two brothers who had immigrated to the U.S. in the 80′s. Bertrand and Roy Sosa were inspired by the lack of financial tools available to many people in the markets without traditional bank relationships, established credit or challenged credit histories. With an initial investment of less than $1000, the Sosa brothers endeavored to bring the unbanked and underbanked populations all of the safety, flexibility and usability associated with credit and debit cardholders. As the underbanked consumer market approaches 100 million, NetSpend continues to be a leader and innovator in the prepaid debit card arena with over 7 million customers since their inception.
NetSpend’s Product Line
A solid and ever expanding distribution network of over 100,000 locales has enabled customers to not only buy prepaid product, but load or reload cash on previously purchased cards. The enormous distribution channel consists of neighborhood convenience outlets, check cashing venues and various retail merchants across the country. As a continuous innovator in the prepaid markets, NetSpend products help non-banked consumers pay bills online, purchase with plastic from retail merchants, buy from online stores and manage their finances electronically without having to visit a brick-and-mortar institution or possess a paper checking account. MasterCard and Visa both offer network-branding to various prepaid cards included in the NetSpend product cache. Other client relationships include corporations wishing to eliminate wasteful paper transactions and move to a paperless system benefiting employees and payroll departments. Skylight Payroll Cards are also marketed through Visa and MasterCard along with an online portal for company workers to access W-2 and pay period statements.
Advantages of NetSpend Products
Besides being one of the industry leaders in innovation, NetSpend has been solid in terms of sheer size and stability. NetSpend’s prepaid tools include a vast array of features and benefits that have helped shape the market landscape. Some of the notable product elements include – online account management capabilities, FDIC insurance, potentially lower-cost alternative to check-cashing centers or banks, customer support services, free direct deposit, no fear of carrying cash, world-wide acceptance of Visa/Mastercard and no driving to the bank and standing in line. NetSpend prepaid cards also come with technological benefits like Anytime Alerts to cell phones through iPhone and Android apps. Other spiffs might include the ability to customize a prepaid card, prescription discounts and redeemable payback rewards.
