Fit Pay Offers Prepaid Capabilities For Wearable Devices

Fit Pay Inc. has announced that it is offering prepaid capabilities on wearable devices connected to the Fit Pay Payment Platform.

According to Finextra, the company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of NXT-ID Inc. and a provider of payment, credential management and authentication platform services, is launching the the FitPay Prepaid MasterCard to give consumers with Fit Pay’s contactless payment-enabled devices the ability to store funds directly on their device.

“Adding reloadable prepaid capabilities is a new feature for devices on our platform and makes our payment enablement services available on a wider range of form factors,” said Michael Orlando, president of Fit Pay Inc. and COO of NXT-ID.

The option, which will be available to device OEMs that integrate with the Fit Pay platform, allows consumers to load their Fit Pay-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) or wearable device with a prepaid value for contactless purchases. Users will be able to reload the account, set thresholds and manage the account settings.

“Prepaid accounts give consumers more flexibility in how they make contactless payments,” Orlando said. “This is particularly appealing to millennials who are more likely to use a prepaid account, more likely to own a wearable and more likely to make a contactless payment.”

The platform uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to interact with more than 10 million retail point-of-sale (POS) terminals worldwide, so customers can easily make purchases almost anywhere with a simple tap. It can be used everywhere that Debit MasterCard is accepted.

“Prepaid is a natural fit for enabling payments within the IoT ecosystem. It meets consumers’ needs for security and control as their payment credentials are linked to a wider set of devices. The flexible nature of the prepaid platform enables many innovative use cases with both traditional and non-traditional players, and our work with Fit Pay is a great example,” said Solana Cozzo, North America Vice President of Prepaid and Inclusive Growth for MasterCard.