For the millions of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck, access to liquidity when they need it is more than just convenient. It’s essential. Paydays don’t always coincide with when bills are due. Emergency expenses, such as car or home repairs, can occur at any time. Not having funds can mean being charged an assortment of late or overdraft fees, or accumulating debt.
This is why Current*, a consumer fintech banking platform, is focused on providing its members banking products and services that solve all these needs, and helps all Americans improve their financial outcomes. From offering paycheck advances up to $750**, paychecks up to two days early with direct deposit*** to fee-free overdraft, a secured charge card to help build credit history^ and annual savings bonuses up to 4.00%^^, amongst other features, the fintech is focused on getting its members access to their money when they need it and providing them even more speed to value on its platform.
“[Customers think] ‘I need to pay this bill, I need to pay someone back,’” says Trevor Marshall, CTO and Co-Founder, Current. “All of that has a very strict time component to it.”
As a result, Current knew another key component of this was achieving high-speed money movement at scale. To make this happen, the company needed to excel at two types of transactions:
- Account Funding Transactions (AFTs), which allow members to instantly move funds from an external account using a debit card into their Current accounts
- Original Credit Transactions (OCTs), which allow members to transfer funds from their Current account to a debit card, whether or not it is connected to a Current account.
AFTs and OCTs would provide a number of crucial benefits for Current’s members:
- AFTs and OCTs could help members’ pay bills, essentials, or pay back friends and family, with increased speed. Both transaction types could be initiated and approved at any time, not just during business hours. They both also guarantee T+1 settlement.
- Members can use AFTs and OCTs to seamlessly move money to or from any debit cards and spend that money instantly.
While AFTs and OCTs provide a lot of benefits to consumers, they can pose slightly higher risks relative to other kinds of transactions, since they are instant and therefore difficult to cancel before settlement. As a result, Current selected a partner, TabaPay, who could help provide and secure AFT and OCT transactions at scale.
The Path Forward: Current Succeeds with AFTs and OCTs
Current selected TabaPay because TabaPay’s skill with AFTs factored heavily into this decision:
- TabaPay has a strong track record of success handling AFTs at scale. In a single year, TabaPay processes more than 200 million AFT transactions, totaling more than $22 billion.
- Because TabaPay is so experienced with AFTs, the company helps its clients aggressively reduce high risk transactions, achieving rates 50% below the industry average.
Current improved the member experience even more by working with TabaPay to implement partial authorization for OCTs, allowing members to send some of the money they requested at one time, and the rest when additional funds hit their account vs. having to wait to send any money until all funds were fully settled in their account.
Current utilized internal Know Your Customer (KYC) checks and the Visa Address Verification Service (AVS) to keep members accounts secure and additionally, worked with TabaPay and Visa to implement Account Name Inquiry (ANI), an advanced risk detection tool that verifies cardholder names. (To learn more about this collaboration, read Visa’s perspective here.) Current continues to leverage strong transaction risk controls on an ongoing basis.
The Results: High security, superior member experiences
Current has experienced an 153% increase in card attachment rate, and a 57% reduction in chargebacks, after implementing Visa’s ANI in conjunction with Visa and TabaPay. And most importantly, Current has been able to seamlessly provide secure, instant money movement to its members, to provide them increased ways to have access to liquidity when they need it most.
*Current is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. FDIC insurance up to $250,000 only covers the failure of an FDIC-insured bank. Certain conditions must be satisfied for pass-through deposit insurance coverage to apply. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Member FDIC, and/or Cross River Bank, Member FDIC. The Current Visa® Debit Card, which may be issued by Choice Financial Group and/or Cross River Bank, and the Current Visa® secured charge card, which is issued by Cross River Bank, are all issued pursuant to licenses from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa debit or credit cards are accepted. A Current deposit account is required to apply for the Current Visa® secured charge card. Independent approval required.
**Paycheck Advance is for eligible customers only. Your actual available Paycheck Advance amount will be displayed to you in the mobile app and may change from time to time. Conditions and eligibility may vary and are subject to change at any time, at the sole discretion of Finco Advance LLC, which offers this optional feature. Finco Advance LLC is a financial technology company, not a bank. For more information, please refer to Paycheck Advance Terms and Conditions.
***Faster access to funds is based on comparison of traditional banking policies and deposit of paper checks from employers and government agencies versus deposits made electronically. Delays by the employer, payer, or their banks may result in delayed access to funds beyond our control.
^Individual results may vary. Using your credit card responsibly may allow you to improve your credit score. Credit building depends on various factors, including your payment history, credit utilization, length of credit history, and other financial activities.
^^Boost Bonuses are credited to your Savings Pods within 48 hours of enabling the Boost feature and on a daily basis thereafter, provided that the Savings Pod has accrued a Boost Bonus of at least $0.01. No minimum balance required. The Boost rate on Savings Pods is variable and may change at any time. The disclosed rate is effective as of August 1, 2023. Must have $0.01 in Savings Pods to earn a Boost rate of either 0.25% or 4.00% annually on the portion of balances up to $2000 per Savings Pod, up to $6000 total. The remaining balance earns 0.00%. To earn a Boost rate of 4.00%, you must receive at least one Eligible Payroll Deposit equalling a minimum of $200 over a 35-day period. For more information, please refer to Current Boost Terms and Conditions.
