Iridium Prepaid Card to be First Offered in Canada and U.S.

The new Iridium MasterCard prepaid debit card is hitting the convenience store circuit across the nation after receiving the nod from the U.S Patent and Trademark Office. Riding the coat tails of a successful business venture with our neighbors of The Great White North, SelectCore Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: SCG) hopes to make a significant impact as the first prepaid card offered to customers who also shop at convenience stores throughout the U.S.

SelectCore intends to market the Iridium MasterCard through select “untapped” independent retail chains by leveraging its patent-pending, PrepaidOne point-of-sale technology, as well as the company’s proven success. According to SelectCore’s website, a few of the several touted benefits of the PrepaidOne technology include: 10-year track-record of 100% uptime, a carrier-grade fully redundant network infrastructure, multiple languages support and real-time processing of virtual PINS, POSA, batch POSA, deactivation, reloads, voids and refunds.

The initial roll-out is expected by the third quarter of 2011 and will be focused on the Company’s most profitable existing 2,000 retail locations. The NACS (National Association of Convenience Stores) indicates that over 60% of the 146,000 convenience stores located across the country are single-owner/operators. Given these statistics, SelectCore anticipates an excellent opportunity to grow its U.S. retail network. Many consumers of the same ethnic background and language seem to be drawn to SelectCore.

Keith McKenzie, CEO of SelectCore stated:

“Our typical locations are located in areas where the highest concentration of underbanked consumers shop. This provides SelectCore with direct access to a captive audience.”

As with other prepaid cards, Iridium will be accepted at millions of locations around the world including retail and online merchants. Some of the features that come with the card are SMS text and email alerts, online account access, online bill payment, money transfers and ATM access. The Iridium card is a GPR (General Purpose Re-loadable) card, which means it can be reloaded multiple times, as well as carry a balance of up to $5,000.

Ryan Deslippe, President of SelectCore added:

“Iridium provides unbanked consumers with financial empowerment in a society that is quickly shifting to electronic forms of payment”.

Technological advances in the prepaid space, like those offered by SelectCore, continue to better serve the ever-increasing market for prepaid debit cards (now over 60 million people according to a recent FDIC survey) as it quickly approaches $200 million.

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