Universal Credit: Housing Association Pilots Prepaid Card

HA Moat is piloting a prepaid card that will help its tenants pay their rent when they receive housing benefit direct under Universal Credit.  They have teamed up with the Western Union Company to trial the cards as part of a wider scheme to evaluate the role of prepaid cards in supporting automatic rent payments, which would meet many of the challenges housing providers will face when implementing Universal Credit. Western Union is currently providing tenants with MasterCard prepaid cards, which allow Moat to automatically draw money from the tenant’s card, preventing rent arrears and giving both tenants and the housing association a record that the rent has been paid. The cards have no credit facilities, so the tenants cannot spend more than the value on the card. Read more on 24dash.