Compiled from Netspend internal data, April 2020
EconomicInclusion.gov, “2017 Household Survey Results”
https://www.economicinclusion.gov/surveys/2017household/
Mobile Check Load is a service provided by First Century Bank, N.A. and Ingo Money, Inc., subject to the First Century Bank and Ingo Money Terms and Conditions, and Privacy Policy. Approval review usually takes 3 to 5 minutes but can take up to one hour. All checks are subject to approval for funding in Ingo Money’s sole discretion. Fees apply for approved Money in Minutes transactions funded to your card. Unapproved checks will not be funded to your card. Ingo Money reserves the right to recover losses resulting from illegal or fraudulent use of the Ingo Money Service. Your wireless carrier may charge a fee for message and data usage. Additional transaction fees, costs, terms and conditions may be associated with the funding and use of your card. See your Cardholder Agreement for details. Mobile Check Capture service is not available for use within the state of New York.
Fee may be assessed by reload location and may vary from location to location.
Employee financial health has always been essential to workforce stability. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, employers need a renewed focus to support their employees’ engagement and performance required to maintain business operations. Even before the pandemic, more than a quarter of the workforce (28%) suffered from feelings of financial insecurity, according to a Netspend research study earlier this year.
At the same time, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are increasingly turning to online shopping for groceries, household goods and takeout or delivery. Research on consumer spending during the pandemic showed online spending increased by as much as 30%.[2] In fact, Netspend cardholder data confirmed the following:
- Not only are consumers shopping online more, they’re purchasing more with each transaction. Consider this: Spending on digital purchases by Netspend cardholders increased by 90%.[3] At the same time, there was also a 63% increase in the volume of digital goods purchased.[3]
- Consumers are going digital to fulfill their banking needs, too. Among Netspend cardholders, there was a significant increase in the use of digital and mobile tools.[3] Not only was there a 20% increase in online account users, but there was a 73% increase in new user mobile app installs.[3] Further, the percentage of cardholders using Netspend’s mobile check load feature increased by about 22% since the same time period last year.[3]
These changes in consumer behavior can likely be attributed to widespread stay at home and social distancing orders. However, this data helps to underscore the importance of digital and online shopping during the pandemic and in the long term. But this is not an option for the 8.4 million unbanked and underbanked Americans.[4] This means that cashless retailers — online and brick-and-mortar alike — are unable to sell to the underbanked. They may lack plastic, but they don’t lack purchasing power.
Employers have a huge opportunity to make changes that help to increase employee engagement, and Paycards can help, with a number of features, including:
- Direct Deposit. Via direct deposit, Paycards can provide 100% access to wages while enabling payroll managers to complete payroll remotely, reducing the need for employees to wait in line to access their paychecks.
- Mobile Check Load.[5] Cardholders can load checks onto their Paycards via phone using the Mobile App[6], without adding lots of risk by visiting a bank in-person to access their funds.
- Online Payments. Since the Paycard can be used anywhere Visa® debit or Debit Mastercard® is accepted, employees with a prepaid payroll card can shop online for groceries, household goods and takeout or delivery.
- Digital Wallet. Help employees to go digital (and contactless) when making making payments in-person with digital wallet access.
- Tip disbursement. Tipped workers can receive tips and reimbursements digitally. This helps reduce the hassle and risk of picking up cash or checks.
- Government benefit deposit. Employees awaiting government benefits can provide their routing and account information to the benefits provider, and their funds will be direct deposited to their account.
In today’s world, the need for contactless payments and electronic money management is greater than ever. Click here to visit the Employee Marketing Resources page to download features and benefits one-pagers to help educate your employees on ways they can better manage their money.
