Mastercard Partners with SoFi on Debit Card, Payment Products

| Updated
by Wanguba Muriuki · 3 min read
Mastercard Partners with SoFi on Debit Card, Payment Products
Photo: 401(K) 2012 / Flickr

Mastercard has partnered with SoFi, a digital personal finance company, in a program expected to benefit SoFi’s almost one million customers using their cash management accounts.

Mastercard has been partnering with several other payment products and services providers aiming to grow its customer base throughout the world. In the latest news, Mastercard teamed up with SoFi, a digital personal finance company, on a lot of products and experiences. The new partnership will benefit SoFi’s almost one million customers, according to a press release from the companies.

The new deal kicks off with the SoFi Money debit card, which is an offering that will exist on the Mastercard network exclusively. SoFi’s card will offer a new method for the users to spend their SoFi Money cash management accounts.

According to official reports, this fee-free account will offer several beneficial features. Some of these features include peer-to-peer (P2P) functionality, reimbursements from ATMs, high-yielding interest, and smartphone-enabled check deposits.

Some of the offerings that come with this new debit program include mobile phone insurance, cash-back incentives, and airport concierge services. Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFi, said:

“Our mission at SoFi is to help our members achieve financial independence to realize their ambitions. To do that, we must build products and services that help our members get their money right. Our partners are leaders in technological innovation, security and enhanced benefits, and Mastercard is an industry leader across all of those areas.”

How It Works

Mastercard is set to serve as the exclusive card network for SoFi’s soon-to-be-released credit card. Moreover, customers who have specific SoFi and Mastercard products can participate in premium fan experiences. They will enjoy these experiences when the SoFi stadium opens in Los Angeles later this year.

The new stadium will be the future home of the Los Angeles Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams. It is scheduled to open in July 2020. Craig Vosburg, president, North America, Mastercard, said that his company looks forward to partnering with SoFi. Through the partnership, the companies will offer customers new benefits and products. He added:

“We recognize the importance of SoFi’s mission to enable their members to live better financial lives and are pleased they have selected Mastercard as their partner in doing so.”

Mastercard Taps Marqeta in Europe

Mastercard is also working with Marqeta to offer a program for European fintechs to deploy new applications speedily. Twisto, a Prague-based payments app, will be the first beneficiary of this partnership.

This project will set up a streamlined developer-friendly path for the Mastercard issuers. They can then build, test, and launch digital-first card programs. The programs will support instant access to a sandbox together with a fully published API documentation.

Marqeta is highly reputable in the United States. It gives firms like Kabbage, Square, Affirm, and Doordash the necessary tools to rapidly develop their card issuing programs. In October 2019, it announced a partnership with Visa to enhance global expansion efforts for several multi-national card programs in ten Asia Pacific markets.

Visa was the leader of a $25 million Series D round for Marqeta that took place in July 2017. It also participated in the company’s $250 million Series E in May 2019. Marqeta is already operating in Europe. It signed Spanish POS lender Aplazame, Swiss contemporary Yapeal, and French digital bank Morning. These were its first European customers in April 2019.

Twisto became the first EU-based fintech to try Marqeta’s services with Mastercard. It used the new platform as a hassle-free strategy of issuing cards to gain access to actionable and real-time transaction data from customer spending patterns.

As Mastercard continues its forays in regions around the world, analysts now are keen to see how this new venture in Europe will roll out.

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