Fifth Third is now issuing the RevolutionCard — giving the new, nameless credit card some clout, the blog WalletPop reports. One of the things that makes the RevolutionCard unique, and in some ways a bit foreign, is that it appears to be a generic, nameless card. The advantage: If the card is stolen, a thief has to know the cardholder's PIN in order to use the card.
And the cardholder can change her PIN as often as she likes — a feature that has the potential to greatly reduce credit-card fraud. When using the card, the cardholder makes purchases like she would with a debit card, so that the PIN can be entered at the POS.
Though acceptance of the RevolutionCard, which is owned by Revolution Money, remains limited, Fifth Third's backing is expected to give the card a significant nudge, with more merchants in the near future viewing it as a viable card-payment option. The RevolutionCard is currently accepted at some big retail locations, including Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond, Bloomingdale's, Office Depot, Publix, Rent-A-Center, T.J. Maxx and U-Haul International.
The RevolutionCard charges no interchange payments between banks, so it costs the retailer less than 1 percent for transaction processing and settlement. That can save the retailer as much as 80 percent per transaction.
Jason Hogg, chief executive of Revolution Money, told Reuters that the deal with Fifth Third is just what the company needed in order to propel its status:
With Fifth Third as an issuing bank, we have our largest opportunity yet to significantly grow the RevolutionCard business.
