A plastic payment card that can be loaded with funds at e-pay mobile top-up terminals and used to pay for purchases made via the Internet has been launched in the UK.
TeleGlobal, the company behind the pre-paid Internet payment card, called Snap, has inked a deal with Euronet subsidiary e-pay to make free Snap cards and top-up services available at locations where e-pay terminals are installed.
E-pay, - which is the largest electronic payments processor of pre-paid mobile airtime top-up services in the UK - currently provides top-ups for Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Three Network and Virgin Mobile and its services are available at more than 100,000 points of sale (POS) in the UK.
TeleGlobal says its new Snap card will enable customers who do not have a credit or debit card, or do not want to use their credit card on the Internet, to make online purchases.
Erik Holst-Roness, chief executive of TeleGlobal, says: "The kind of people who will benefit range from kids who want to download music and games, to the thousands of families without credit cards, to people who don't want to put their credit details on the Internet or those who just want to make their online purchases private."
He says online merchants can now connect with an entirely new group of consumers without the fear of fraud or charge backs.
The agreement with e-pay follows an earlier deal that TeleGlobal inked with Internet payments firm securetrading. Under terms of this deal, online retailers already using securetrading's services will now be offered Snap alongside credit and debit cards.
Says Holst-Roness: "With these agreements now in place, we have made it possible for everyone, no matter what their age or credit circumstances, to enjoy the benefits of online shopping."