Fiserv Inc. has announced mobile loading capability for prepaid cards, allowing cardholders to load immediate, guaranteed funds from a personal or business check using a smartphone camera. The solution gives prepaid processors the ability to guarantee a check before it is accepted, and offer the cardholder a convenient mobile service, thus increasing card load volume and customer retention.

Users of the service start by downloading their prepaid processor's app. Once installed the app allows them to make a deposit simply by taking a picture of the front and back of a paper check with a smartphone. The check is electronically loaded onto the user's prepaid card.

The service is supported by a new Fiserv agreement with Valid Systems, a check guarantee service. Near real-time verification from Valid allows Fiserv to reduce dramatically the risk to prepaid processors while enabling instant funding for the consumer.

"The ability to easily load funds from a check to a card adds a great deal of convenience for the consumer, and can be a valuable addition to traditional banking," said Gary Brand, director of source capture solutions at Fiserv. "For prepaid processors that offer mobile loading, this can mean increased balances, transaction counts, volumes and customer retention rates."

At this time, Prepaid Source Capture is available only to prepaid processors, but Fiserv said in its announcement of the service that eventually it would be made available to FIs as well. 

Read more about transaction processing.