Apple Pay Gains More Prepaid Card Support

Apple Pay has gained the support of another prepaid card network.

ADP announced yesterday (Jan. 7) that it has enabled its ALINE cardholders to pay using Apple Pay. The ALINE Card is marketed for companies to give its employees immediate access to their paychecks on payday on a reloadable Visa or MasterCard prepaid card.

Now, this new integration with Apple Pay gives those users the chance to also make mobile payments using the ALINE Card. Because the card is a debit card, it gives users the benefits of having access to electronic funds without needing a bank account. It’s specifically marketed toward those who are unbanked and underbanked.

The ALINE Card also helps employees shop and pay bills in store, by phone and online. They can also manage their account using the ADP mobile app. The ALINE Card by ADP is issued by MB Financial Bank, which issues both Visa and MasterCard.

“Combining the convenience and accessibility of the ALINE Card with the security and mobility of Apple Pay offers our cardholders more flexible secure payment and shopping options,” said Gary Lott, Division Vice President and General Manager at ADP. “We are proud and excited to be an early payroll card adopter of this innovative mobile payments service.”

In terms of the prepaid market, recent findings from the Pew Charitable Trusts showed that 23 million adults regularly use GPR prepaid cards nationwide. Those cards let holders load funds using either cash or direct deposit activity as their source. Then, the cards can be used at ATMs or at retail locations to make direct purchases.

Those surveyed by Pew totaled 587 respondents who use those cards at least once per month. The respondents were questioned late last year on various attitudes towards, and use of, the cards. Pew said its findings reflect an increased use of prepaid cards, with a 50 percent jump logged between 2012 and 2014.

Key drivers came from a growing use of the cards among those respondents with bank accounts; they tended to get their prepaid cards at either banks or credit unions. Demographically speaking, Pew noted, these users had higher incomes than did unbanked prepaid cardholders.