PayPerks brings its 10 years of experience improving the financial health of its millions of users to power the education, gamification, and rewards functionality of the smiONE™ Visa® Prepaid Card.

CARROLLTON, GA. / June 30, 2021 / -- Systems & Methods, Inc. (SMI) today announced that it has acquired the PayPerks platform, brand, and assets.  The PayPerks platform has been successfully used for 10 years to improve the financial health of its millions of users, and will now power the education, gamification, and rewards functionality of the smiONE™ Visa® Prepaid Card.  The transaction was completed last month.

The PayPerks solution was created in 2010, at the dawn of the current fintech era, to create a new approach to cardholder engagement through a unique combination of easy-to-digest visual education, fun quizzes, engaging points schemes, and exciting sweepstakes-based rewards.  

This new approach created value for both the prepaid debit cardholder and the card provider, driving awareness and understanding of card basics, better usage of advanced card features, budgeting and savings, safety and security, and other financial capability skills, while helping the card provider improve the program’s top line and bottom line through optimization, loyalty, and improved servicing.

SMI plans to integrate the functionality of the PayPerks platform directly into its smiONE Card product, bringing the same education and rewards solutions to its 1.9 million cardholders. The smiONE Card is a part of SMI’s set of solutions that it provides to states and local agencies for the disbursement of government payments, including child support. Embedding the PayPerks solution into the card experience will benefit not only SMI and its cardholders, but also SMI’s government partners who are looking for innovative solutions to make a positive impact on their constituents.  

PayPerks has a proven track record of creating positive behavior change and working with government partners. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and its bank partner deployed the solution for its Direct Express® card program, where PayPerks was able to drive significant cardholder behavior change, increase cardholder satisfaction, and improve cardholder financial health. Cardholders reported that the education helped them feel that someone cared for their wellbeing and that the financial lessons learned improved not just their financial lives, but their whole lives.

“We are very excited to bring PayPerks to our cardholders as we continuously work to enhance our users’ experience with the smiONE Card, a growing part of our product and solution portfolio,” says Bo Stone, Chief Strategy Officer, SMI.  “Integrating PayPerks with smiONE will provide exclusive differentiation to our state and local partners, while making an important positive impact on the financial lives of our cardholders and their families.”

“This acquisition is an exciting beginning of the next phase of our company’s mission to improve the financial health of cardholders,” says Jake Peters, Co-Founder and CEO, PayPerks.  “There continues to be a real need to help Americans across the financial spectrum with basic financial literacy and advanced financial capabilities, all in service of improving not only financial health, but overall health.  After having gotten to know the SMI team over the past year, I am thrilled to know that the solution we have built will continue on as a part of a thoughtful, innovative, family-run company that cares deeply for its users, just as we have for the past decade.”

About SMI:  For almost 50 years, Systems and Methods, Inc. (SMI) has pioneered innovative government payment solutions that make it easier for families to access critical funds that help improve the quality of their daily lives.  Founded in 1971 in Carrollton, Ga., as a local accounting, batch processing, and data entry service, SMI now operates comprehensive State Disbursement Units (SDUs) in 17 states and manages the reloadable smiONE™ Visa® Prepaid Card for 1.9 million cardholders in 12 states and 12 tribes, more than any other provider in the U.S.  As a family-owned and operated company, SMI combines a unique relationship-based approach with innovative technology to customize the right solution for each government agency and its constituents. Learn more about SMI at www.smi-inc.com.

About PayPerks:  PayPerks was founded in 2010 in New York City by Arlyn Davich and Jake Peters, two entrepreneurs focused on leveraging technology to provide innovative solutions to improve the financial capability of low-income Americans through education and sweepstakes-based rewards.  Supported by leading venture capital investors, including Anthemis Group, Red & Blue Ventures (fka MentorTech Ventures), DCM, the New York Angels, Columbia University’s Lang Fund, and other angel investors including Esther Dyson, the company grew to provide effective behavior change solutions to prepaid card program managers, banks, processors, and state and local governments, improving the financial capability and financial health of millions of cardholders.  PayPerks received awards and industry recognition from Paybefore Magazine, PYMNTS.com, Prepaid Expo, The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, The White House, and the CFED.  Learn more at www.payperks.com.  

For more information, contact Elizabeth Britton (SMI) at elizabeth.britton@smimail.net.

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