Description
Green Dot is an American financial technology and bank holding company headquartered in Austin. It is the world's largest prepaid debit card company by market capitalization. Green Dot is also a payments platform company and is the technology platform used by Apple Pay Cash, Uber, and Intuit. The company was founded in 1999 by Steve Streit as a prepaid debit card for teenagers to shop online. In 2001, the company pivoted to serving the "unbanked" and "underbanked" communities. In 2010, Green Dot Corporation went public with a valuation of $2 billion. Since its inception, Green Dot has acquired a number of companies in the mobile, financial, and tax industries including Loopt, AccountNow, AchieveCard, UniRush Financial Services, and Santa Barbara Tax Products Group.
Green Dot Corporation is an issuer of prepaid MasterCard and Visa cards in the United States. These products are available at nearly 100,000 retail stores including CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Dollar Tree; as well as discounted offerings at Meijer and Walmart. Green Dot also transfers individuals' direct deposit funds (such as Social Security payments) from the US government to personal bank accounts. They also provide co-branded card programs to Walmart, Boost Mobile, AT&T and Citibank. In 2007, Green Dot raised $20M in funding, including Sequoia Capital as an investor. In 2008, Green Dot ceased to offer prepaid Discover cards. On July 30, 2019, Green Dot launched the Unlimited Cash Back Bank Account, offering 3% cash back as well as a savings account offering 3% interest known as the Unlimited cashback account.
The cards are normal debit cards, and not a line of credit. Purchases are deducted from the balance stored on the card. The user can add more money to the card by paying cash at a retail store's point of sale, or in certain cases from their paycheck.
