Chex Services Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Equitex, Inc., has announced it has executed an agreement with a banking institution to issue stored-value cards. Customers can place funds on the new stored-value card, called Fastfunds, in varying amounts at any time via ATMs around the world.
The cards also provide a fast, easy and cost-effective means of transferring funds to anyone, anywhere in the world.
They can be loaded on the Internet, over the telephone by voice recognition, or at any designated Chex booth locations. They can also transfer money orders across the world for significantly lower costs than what a customer would pay at Western Union.
"It is similar to the stored-value cards that a lot of merchants use; the difference is the card would literally be loaded with cash," said Jim Welbourn, Chex Services president. Welbourn also said they’re working with affiliate cash cards.
Among facilities that could utilize the system are land-based casinos. Fastfunds could be sold at a booth where customers could load their winnings on the cards and create PINs. Casinos could also use the system to issue paychecks. Similar to using a direct deposit service, casinos could pay employees by simply loading money onto the card. Then employees could withdraw the money from an ATM.
The payment process could also be streamlined for online race wagering. This could translate to greater efficiency and savings for race tracks.
"Mailing the checks would be costly and time consuming from the racetrack side," Welbourn said. "If the race track were to load the money onto the stored value card it would bypass their necessity to cut the checks."
The initial focus of the Fastfunds stored value card will be Chex clients utilizing check cashing and other cash access services at its 32 full-service financial service center locations in land-based casinos and other gaming establishments throughout the United States.
The company plans to use the stored-value cards in support of its recently announced agreement with Paymaster Jamaica Limited.