Each week our client services managers and call centre staff field questions from clients and cardholders.
Our prepaid card programs are often customized to meet clients' unique requirements ( eg: consumer rebate programs are very different from employee reward programs) but there are commonalities that apply to all programs.
Here are some common solutions to routine questions which can help improve your prepaid card program.
1) Pre-fund Escrow to Speed Up Card Delivery
"We need cards now!" It typically takes us five business days from the moment we receive card funds to ship out an order. Pre-funding your escrow account helps to speed up this process, which means cardholders get their cards significantly faster.
An escrow account is a dedicated bank-secured account that program administrators can access for fast card funding. Berkeley does not have access to these funds: they are solely used to securely load client funds onto client cards.
This option is frequently used for long-term continuous programs where administrators are granted different funding limits and access levels to the account. Instead of waiting for an invoice to be mailed, having funds in escrow means the five business days starts the moment you place your card order. If you aren't currently pre-funding your escrow, the five business days starts once we we receive your order payment.
2) Add the Access Code On Your Carrier
"What is an access code?" Cardholders sometimes ask our Client Service Managers this question. The solution is a simple fix. In order to activate their card, cardholders require a 4-digit access code. These 4 digits are decided by our clients at the time a prepaid program is established.
If the code is not clearly visible on the card carrier (the piece of paper that the card is attached to) or is not communicated to your cardholders before they get the card they must call our call centre to obtain it. Communicating the access code directly and clearly to cardholders allows them to activate their cards online or via automated phone prompts, rather than waiting to speak to a call centre rep.
Cardholders can also use their access code to verify account balance and transactions at any time by logging onto our website. This makes the whole experience faster and more user-friendly and your cardholders can use their cards without having to go through as many steps.
This is the screen cardholders see when activating their card or checking their card balance. Note that the access code is requested right from the beginning. Cardholders aren't able to proceed further without it.
3) Provide Clear Program Contact Information For Cardholders
"Why did I only get $25 on my card?" Cardholders sometimes call our call centre to find out why their card value is incorrect (i.e. $25 versus the $60 they were promised).
Berkeley has zero control over card funding allocations and we can't be of any assistance other than to direct cardholders to contact whoever gave them the card. An even larger problem arises when cardholders don't know who sent them card, or for what reason.
It then becomes a longer process to solve this issue and cardholders can become frustrated. Clearly communicating with cardholders about the prepaid card program they're part of, and providing cardholders with a program contact name and number before cards are mailed can save confusion for both the user and the organization issuing the card.
