After a stint in the Navy, Oscar Muñoz completed his MBA, doing his graduate studies on the electronic payments industry, particularly as it applied to his native Puerto Rico. In a rare exception to the norm, academia led to reality and his study became the basis for the only non-bank ISO and member service provider in Puerto Rico, Worldwide Payment Services, Inc. WPS was built around a “one-stop” concept for all electronic payment processing needs, by offering a complete line of end-to-end credit, debit, gift and loyalty, and check acceptance solutions for merchants of all sizes and industry types. Muñoz duplicated this “all-inclusive” concept when expanding to the issuing side of the business with Uni-Mas Corp. Muñoz offered his thoughts on the payments industry and how it works in the Hispanic community.

GR: What was so unique about one-stop payment services?

OM: Due to payment acquiring licensing issues outside of the U.S., the all-inclusive concept that is so common in the U.S. was not common at all in Puerto Rico, and still is not. [The U.S. typically has] one provider who offers all merchant acquiring services, including the integration with prepaid services. We wanted to provide a terminal that would allow everybody to take long distance cards, top up the minutes, and, at the same time, accept checks and all the various flavors of verification, conversion of credit cards and debit cards, to have a fully integrated terminal. Basically, after over a decade of working in the transaction acquiring side of the industry, our evolution into the card issuance side of the business was a very natural one, and Uni-Mas Corp. was born as a total solution provider for card-based revenue solutions. We realized where the opportunity was going when it came to the unbanked, the immigrants, and particularly those sending money home, and decided to create a completely separate company to be able to give it the attention and resources it needed.

GR: There has been a lot of talk about increased scrutiny of prepaid card services by various regulators and law enforcement, concerned about money laundering, fraud, etc. How has this impacted you?

OM: We were one of the few that started creating prepaid cards that were all FDIC insured. We wanted to make sure that we were not doing like others had done before, which were kind of private label cards with open loop card acceptance and functionality. People who are committing fraud are getting more and more creative. So, a lot of the time, effort and money that we are putting in now has to do with transaction monitoring and fraud control.

GR:  Specifically what kind of fraud is involved?

OM: We are giving cards to people that are crossing the U.S. borders. We do anything that you can imagine and expect from an open loop prepaid debit card. But, with unique technology specifically tailored for the immigrants who are sending money home. On those lines you have to consider how that usage will take place, not only within the U.S., but also across borders; things like “floor limits,” $1.00 pre-authorizations, manual processing (paper) and any other merchant-acceptance peculiarity in those non-U.S. regions that might create a margin for a card to be used without the funds needed at settlement.

GR: What are some of the unique elements of your prepaid card offering?

OM: We have things like assisting our cardholders to be able to strengthen their credit file, if they have one. And, if they don’t, to help them create one by reporting their recurring payment activity to the proper credit agencies. It’s an expensive service to do. There are a lot of monthly fees to pay to be able to report the monthly data about what cardholders are doing. The second thing, that is now more popular, is an instant issue process. If you were to buy a Green Dot card today, you go to the store and you come out with a receipt. The merchants we are working with in the Hispanic community are used to instant gratification, so we are giving them an instant issue product, that, with no passport or social security, but with the ID of the country of origin, they come into the store, pay for the card and come out with a card they can use right at the moment.  

GR:  One of the problems that federal regulators have with prepaid debit cards is lack of ID.

OM: We came from the merchant side of the business so we understand how the merchant business works. We understand what kind of a product you need to put in their hands. One, a product that does not stop the check out process; it has to be something that helps their business, and does not hold them back. And, two, that does not get them tied to the compliance line. That’s the last thing you want to do. You know the Red Phone? TThe Batman phone at the store where you go to send money? Now, you have the merchant tied up to the compliance trail. They have to do reporting and they are actually liable if something happens with the money transfers.

GR: So, how do you get around this?

OM: We are still checking ID, but that does not happen at the merchant end. When the merchant sells the product, we give them the option to be able sell it like any other product in their inventory. The merchant can sell and load money onto the product, however, the user cannot use the product until they have registered that card by providing proper identification, be it through the Internet or through the phone, which is what most Hispanics do. They can call a live person that speaks their language.

GR: So, they call somebody who activates the card?

OM: Exactly, they get the card and we have a two step process. Activation, in essence, ties the card to the retailer that issued it. So, now we know that the card came from that retailer, who can load money on the spot. So, money can be put onto the card with certain limits. Once the person deposits the money in, there is nothing they can do with that money unless they make that call and they register the product to their name. That is when the process of Patriot Act verification, and the rest of the identity verification, is going to happen. Outside of the retailer’s space.

GR: So it is being done, but without retailer involvement.

OM: So, it’s not that it is not happening, we understand that it has to happen. We’re just not making it happen where it affects the check out procedures of the retailer, tying them up to a compliance line.

GR: For a mobile money transfer, what happens next?

OM: Once the person, and their friends or family members that they will be sharing funds with, have our card, all they do is text message cash to the other person and the transaction is done. In five seconds they can use the money as a Visa or MasterCard.

GR: So, they use the card to actually get the money?

OM: They use the card at any merchant that accepts MasterCard or Visa, or they take it out of an ATM.

GR: So, the cell phone is . . . ?

OM: The enabling tool, to be able to manage transaction data and funding flow to an open-loop card that you can use around the globe. You don’t have to have a smartphone with a data plan, like with mobile wallet.  If you can text, you can partake of this solution. But, at the end, when you go to a merchant, you have a way to monetize it.

GR: How is this done?

OM: What we did was enlist two separate platforms, so not only are we adding additional security, it allows us a variety of additional services. As soon as the person sending the transaction sends the text message, it hits our text messaging server, it translates that to us for our card platform and the transaction takes place. If you don’t have a phone on the receiving end, you don’t get a confirmation message, however, you have the money.

GR: And, it’s simple?

OM: They get the handholding they need. They need instructions on the simple things – how to swipe and enter an amount and do a transaction.



Oscar Muñoz is CEO of Uni-Mas. Visit Uni-Mas online at www.uni-mas.com