By Ray Birch
TAMPA, Fla.—GTE Financial says it has solved one of the biggest issues consumers have with their plastic—getting a replacement card quickly.
Now, with the $2.4-billion CU’s new mobile app and virtual card, members can simply issue themselves a new card and get it immediately. To do so, members just open the GTE mobile app and tap a button to request a new card. A verification code is then sent to the member’s phone. Once the member enters the code and hits go, they receive a virtual card to use immediately. They may also then request a plastic card to be sent in the mail. Before the solution closes, it pops up a button to update the card in the member’s mobile wallet.
The service became available to GTE members Oct. 20.
“Imagine this: you’re in California on a family vacation and just when you get to the hotel you realize you lost your family’s only credit card,” explained Chad Burney, EVP and COO. “OMG, what do you do? You can only imagine what it’s going to take to get another credit card from your bank or credit union, so now your vacation is ruined. But no—not if you are a GTE member.”
Burney said the move falls right in line with what consumers are increasingly seeking—a greater ability to self-serve, a shift in consumer behavior CUToday.info already reported.
Chad Burney
“GTE is all about creating a fully functional, frictionless, self-service mobile branch, and the new virtual card is critical to being able to do that,” he said.
Different From Banks
Burney noted big banks are doing instant-issue to a virtual card if the customer reaches out to their call centers.
“However, they use the tokenized version, where they don’t give you your actual 16 digits, CVC, and expiration date,” Burney explained. “We believe ours is much better, because we remove the friction of having to update your online merchants or auto drafts with new numbers when you get your physical card in the mail. Otherwise, the consumer is then managing multiple virtual cards and a physical card. GTE’s new virtual card is simple, because it’s an exact picture of your real card—no one is doing that.”
Burney said GTE has partnered with Fiserv on the initiative and the credit union may consider offering the solution to other CUs down the road.
“As it stands now, whenever a consumer needs a replacement card they pretty much have to put their financial life on hold for the five to seven business days it takes to get their new card in the mail,” said Burney. “However, about two years ago GTE began reimagining that experience, and now members have a way to get a replacement card all by themselves.”
Burney asserted the new “experience” solves an important top-of-wallet issue.
“The credit union always wants their members using their card first,” noted Burney. “But what happens when they have to wait five to seven days for a replacement card? They use their backup card from Bank of America.”
Opening the Door
Doing so opens the door to members making that backup card their primary card—a spending door members may never close, said Burney.
“Our new virtual card prevents that. Plus, it gives the credit union another important feature to promote for its cards—to demonstrate the advantage over other issuers,” said Burney.
Burney explained the movement toward a virtual card began when the $2.4-billion GTE Financial decided to bring card processing in-house two years ago, citing the development limitations it experienced in working with third-party processors.
“We heard that this could not be done, but I guess it can,” said Burney. “Generating the CVC number was the sticking point, and that was the hardest aspect of this effort to solve, but we have.”
November Plans
Bringing cards in house, explained Burney, began the process of creating an environment in which members “can do absolutely everything they can with their cards digitally versus going to a bricks and mortar branch.”
He said in November GTE will follow up with another enhancement to its card program, this time around card-not-present transactions.
None of this would be possible without a flexible core system that allows for easy integration of new solutions, said Burney.
“All of this starts with your core,” he said. GTE currently operates on Fiserv’s DNA Core solution.