TransCard - a leading provider of electronic-payment and prepaid debit card solutions branded with MasterCard, Discover, Star and Pulse associations - and University National Bank have signed a card program sponsorship agreement.
The two companies will work together on prepaid programs and extend prepaid products and mobile bank accounts to those individuals who are normally beyond the reach of conventional financial institutions.
University National Bank was the first bank in Minnesota to be certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI)-an honor bestowed by the U.S. Treasury on fewer than 60 financial institutions across the nation. The bank focuses on financial services in the urban core, including specific initiatives targeted to the unbanked and underbanked. The bank's mobile banking platform, provided by mobē inc., allows the bank to bring a large suite of financial services to a largely underserved market segment. The bank offers a Socially Responsible Deposit Fund (SRDF), which puts money to work in low- and moderate-income communities through the bank's provision of loans to support small businesses, affordable housing development and non-profit organizations in these communities. University National Bank's mission to be "The Leader in Improving Our Urban Community" dovetails with TransCard's corporate values.
"Primarily, TransCard serves those individuals who are disenfranchised from traditional financial institutions, such as the under- and unbanked," says Jerry Uffner, President of TransCard. "With University National Bank as a partner, we have chosen a financial institution that thinks outside of the box regarding how to customize products that meet the needs of those who have historically been left out. We can now reach a wider, more diverse audience of people who can use prepaid cards to manage their money more cost effectively."
Prepaid cards are also a green payment solution that helps clients eliminate paper payments. TransCard's all-electronic business model reduces the need to print paper checks, mail them, and distribute them across the country as well as decreases the waste produced by paper checks and paper pay stubs. In fact, according to payitgreen.org, if a 1,000-employee company moved to a 100% electronic system, eliminating paper bills, statements and paystubs-in one year, 889 square feet of forest would be preserved from being destroyed and 6,477 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions would be prevented.
"TransCard and University National Bank have an organic synergy regarding concerns about underserved communities and the plight of our planet," says Craig Fuller, TransCard's CEO. "Our companies both value responsible entrepreneurship-allowing our collaboration to open up avenues of opportunity to those in need while positively impacting the environment. Our corporate visions could not be more perfectly aligned."
University National Bank agrees that with TransCard, the two companies provide multiple, diverse opportunities to those who have been ignored by mainstream financial institutions.
"We are continually looking for new technologies and new offerings that we can take to the communities we serve," says Jim Conrad, University National Bank President. "University National Bank, with the help of its partners mobē inc. and TransCard, is pleased to offer safe, convenient and affordable financial services to a largely underserved market."