Discover Enjoys Six Fold Growth as Young Adults Flock To Prepaid

We’re used to hearing about prepaid solutions for the unbanked and underbanked, but the prepaid industry can appeal to much broader consumer populations. MPD CEO Karen Webster spoke with Jeff Lewis, Director Alternative Payments and Prepaid for Discover, to discuss their significant growth and expansion in prepaid, why young adults are drawn to prepaid, the movement away from traditional credit scores, and new loyalty possibilities.

Discover Enjoys Six Fold Growth as Young Adults Flock To Prepaid

Discover LogoIt often seems you can’t read about prepaid accounts or programs without the words “unbanked” or “underbanked” following closely behind.

Jeff Lewis, Director Alternative Payments and Prepaid for Discover, says that doesn’t have to be the case. According to Lewis, Discover is branching out to attract new demographics to the prepaid market, and is finding plenty of success with one of the fastest-growing consumer populations – young adults.

Market Platform Dynamics’ chief executive officer Karen Webster spoke with Lewis to find out how Discover is reaching out to their new prepaid target group, new loyalty possibilities for prepaid clients, and how the mobile movement is changing the way we pay.

Lewis cited young adults as “more edgy” than other demographics, and as such, the need to appeal to them through social media, new technologies and nontraditional payments methods.

“It’s not about the card: the card is just a method, or an access device,” Lewis said. “With the emergence of things like wallets from Google and Isis, and all the different phone manufacturers and players getting into the space, the access method changing … it fits very nicely for the young adult crowd. “

He also noted that while much of the emphasis in today’s market is on smartphones, such devices are not the only vehicles through which young adults desiring to make on-the-go transactions. Discover wants to engage the young adult crowd through any means possible, and that means thinking beyond your standard iPhone, Android or Windows phone.

“We talk about mobile in the sense of it being a phone, but with iPads and tablets … all the things that are connected to the web, it’s really not necessarily phone — it’s about mobility, purely.”

To hear more Lewis and Webster on the young adult prepaid market, loyalty possibilities within the gaming industry and more, listen to the podcast below.

   

To read a transcript of the audio conversation, click here.


Jeffrey Lewis

Director, Alternative Payments at Discover

Jeffrey Lewis, a 25-year payments industry veteran, is responsible for driving continued expansion and success in prepaid for Discover. He heads up all business development and growth initiatives for Alternative Payments and Prepaid at Discover Network. Prior to joining the Riverwoods, Ill.-based payments network, he was president of the ePayments solutions division of Metavante (now part of FIS). He has served in multiple management roles across all facets of payments at FIS and Metavante. Jeff is also a board member for the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA).