Chase Prepaid Debit Cards Help Clean Up City Streets

JP Morgan Chase Bank is helping to get guns off the street. Cities encourage people to turn in guns in their possession. In return they will receive prepaid debit cards, no questions asked. This year, Chicago and Brooklyn, N.Y.’s programs resulted in a distribution of $747,740 in prepaid debit cards.

John Murray, vice president of treasury services media relations for JP Morgan, says “JP Morgan has a long history of aiding various local and state government programs that includes cash assistant initiatives.”

The Brooklyn gun turn-in program was able to net almost 700 guns. People received a maximum sum of $200 for turning in weapons such as revolvers, pistols and rifles. The total value of prepaid cards distributed in Brooklyn according to the King County District Attorney’s Office is $132,740. There were 660 guns that held a $200 value and 37 pellet guns for $20 each. According to the city of Chicago’s chief financial officer, 6,060 $100 cards and 1,000 $10 cards distributed.

Funding for the debit cards comes from a city’s residents and businesses. Glen Brooks, project manager director of special projects for the Chicago Police Department says that “there is a fundraising committee that works throughout the community. We have small business owners donating $100 to larger corporations donating thousands of dollars, and everyone in between donating what they can.”

JP Morgan provides the financial infrastructure to aid the program and charges each city a small per card fee that goes toward bank-related expenses. Chase would not disclose the card fee amount to BankInnovation.net. Interchange fees are applied to cards that are branded Visa or MasterCard. This enables prepaid cards to be used at ATMs as well as retail outlets. The Brooklyn-based cards are not branded and can only be used as ATM cards.

The prepaid cards do not require users to disclose personal information—which makes them ideal for a no-questions-asked program. The prepaid cards allow recipients immediate access to funds from Chase ATMs or All Point Network ATMs. Each card has its own account and its own PIN, which is activated upon usage. When the balance is used up, a card ceases to be active. Users are unable to replenish funds using the prepaid cards.