Banking Up's UPside Visa Prepaid Card Named Winner in Eighth Annual Paybefore Awards
New York, NY (PRWEB) January 22, 2014 -- Paybefore has selected the UPside Visa Prepaid Card as a 2014 Paybefore Awards winner in the Consumer Champion category. For eight years, Paybefore Awards has conferred the most prestigious recognition of excellence in the worldwide prepaid, mobile and emerging payments industry. The awards are presented annually by Paybefore, whose publications are the leading source of industry information for alternative payments executives.
"We are particularly proud to have been named a winner in the Consumer Champion category, as it rewards our consistent efforts to differentiate by being a virtuous market player,” said Patrice Peyret, CEO of Banking Up, the company behind the UPside card. “Large banks are still not making headlines by putting their customers first. Meanwhile, in 2013, UPside cardholders became able to deposit checks from home or from work using their mobile phones, and started hearing mid-Western accents when calling our newly on-shored customer support service center,” added Peyret.
UPside Visa Prepaid Card was selected by a panel of five industry experts who served as judges for this year’s competition, which—once again—included a record number of entries from around the world.
“An industry is only as good as its innovators. This year’s Paybefore Awards have demonstrated that prepaid, emerging and mobile payments companies always find new ways to address consumer, government and business needs,” said Loraine DeBonis, Paybefore editor-in-chief and chair of the judging panel. “We are proud to recognize Banking Up’s contributions to advancing the industry.”
“The companies and programs recognized in the 2014 Paybefore Awards are great of examples of what can be accomplished when innovators apply thoughtfulness and payments technology to address real-world needs,” added Marilyn Bochicchio, Paybefore’s CEO.
UPside Visa Prepaid Cards have been in the hands of more than half a million consumers since their launch in 2007; they are general purpose reloadable cards intended to be used as an alternative to checking accounts and are sold online at http://www.upsidecard.com. More than half of the UPside cardholders keep the card longer than 2 years, an exceptional account longevity among prepaid cards. UPside cards were the first to display fees in a standardized “fee box” format advocated by the Center for Financial Services Innovations. They were also the first prepaid cards to offer on-demand paper checks, direct top ups of prepaid cell phones, and full service access via a smartphone application.
UPside Visa Prepaid Card now will vie for Best-in-Category distinction, which will be announced during the Paybefore Awards ceremony on March 4 at the All Payments Expo. For the second year, visitors to Paybefore.com will have a chance to vote on Best in Category. The outcome of this vote (counted as one-sixth of the total) will be combined with the five judges’ picks to determine Best-in-Category honorees.
About Banking Up: Banking Up is a leading online and mobile financial services company, providing businesses, banks and their consumers with smart, technology-forward personal finance products. The Banking Up platform enables businesses and banks to offer customers full-featured checking account services on top of easy-to-deploy, low-cost prepaid card accounts. Plastyc, Inc., now doing business as Banking Up, has won multiple awards for serving underbanked consumers. Its partners include the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), H&R Block, GreenDot and Walmart. Banking Up’s principals and directors have a track record as financial services innovators at companies including Gemalto, Oberthur, Signio (now part of PayPal, an eBay company), ClairMail (now part of Monitise), Lending Club, and Genetic Finance. Banking Up is privately held with headquarters in New York City. Visit us at http://www.bankingup.com.
About Paybefore: Paybefore is the leading information provider to prepaid, mobile and emerging payments industry professionals, offering the latest news, commentary and analysis. Paybefore’s family of industry publications includes: Paybefore.com; Pay NewsTM; Pay GovTM; Pay WeekTM; Pay Op-EdTM; Pay MagazineTM, a biannual print publication featuring in-depth articles on the opportunities, challenges and trends in the global payments industry; and the only industry directory, Pay ConnectTM buyer’s guide, available online and in print. Visit us at http://www.paybefore.com.
Patrice Peyret, Banking Up, http://www.bankingup.com, 212-671-1047, [email protected]
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