AlertPay Offering VISA Debit Cards
First of all, It was totally fulminant! AlertPay has been suffering from different issues continuously from past several months and not to forget, its incapability to process VISA/MasterCard transactions is one of them… But somehow they have managed to offer “PrePaid Debit Cards”.
According to official blog update, this card will be available for purchasing in January 2012 and only limited number of cards are available. You also have to pre-register for eligibility:
Pre-registration for the cards is now open to select AlertPay members in nearly 50 countries, but the number of cards available per country is limited.
So that is exactly what I did!
Interestingly, there were 2 options available and so I had to choose from one of those: Do I want a USD card or CAD one? Obviously I chose USD one, but there are some interesting facts that I want to elaborate:
- USD card is supposed to be available in January 2012, while the CAD card still has no clear release date although it could be spring 2012.
- USD card is powered by a Third-party and not AlertPay itself, so instead of owner’s name, the card will rather say “AlertPay Member”.
- This is NOT a freebie and $19.95 USD fee will be charged from eligible applicants.
Unfortunately, this ain’t as professional as what we’d normally expect from AlertPay because it simply doesn’t provide the integrity that AlertPay deserves. This is just like buying those ATM/Debit Cards from 3rd parties during E-Gold times or you could also compare it with those blue colored NxPay cards offered by AlterGold and holding the same VISA logo and all its power. So, at least I am not impressed!
Still it might be a nice option to withdraw money from AlertPay? Eh? We will see when/if it arrives, as January 2012 isn’t really that far from now. I only hope it does and, since AlertPay has always failed to fulfill its provided ETAs during this whole year, and has also constantly failed to deliver its promises on solving those major issues including Credit card processings and closed check withdrawals. Anyway I will be staying vigilant over this and will update as soon as I get the card! (provided they honor my eligiblity, lol!)