Dynamics ePlate Card by UMB Bank

February 14, 2013 | by Justin Warren | Consumer Info, Credit Cards, Personal Finance

The Visa branded ePlate credit card is the result of a partnership between UMB Bank and Dynamics, a privately-owned software company founded in 2007 by Jeff Mullen with headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Dynamics products include intelligent powered payment cards and advanced payment platforms. UMB Bank, a financial services holding company headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., offers banking, payment solutions, asset servicing and institutional investment management services.

Last year, this dynamic duo introduced the ePlate credit card solution that allows companies, retailers, organizations and entertainers the ability to offer their own exclusive credit card rewards to customers or fans. [1] The consumers have a variety of options allowing them to personalize their cards, exclusive access entertainment, real-time tangible rewards, and to direct their payment activity.

The ePlate card itself is a thin, flexible computing platform with the appearance of a payment card. The card features the Electronic Stripe, the world’s first fully card-programmable magnetic stripe that can be read by existing magnetic stripe readers.[2] When consumers make purchases from the card, they receive unique rewards or exclusive experiences that differ significantly from the types of rewards offered by traditional credit cards.

The card is marketed to companies, organizations, or entertainers who can become “experience providers.”

“When your company becomes an Experience Provider, you begin to offer your consumers an experience that goes above and beyond what any other company is doing,” the UMB ePlate advertisement states.[3] Companies will be able to offer exclusive and unique rewards or experiences that the consumer cannot get elsewhere.

The ePlate card, states Dynamics CEO Jeff Mullen, “offers consumers the ability to earn exclusive, instant, and personal benefits without requiring the consumer to do anything other than live their everyday life.”[4]

However, according to Mullins, that is just the beginning. As more experience providers sign on, the gap from conventional loyalty cards will broaden. As more providers sign on, the more rewarding it is for consumers, and the more consumers who acquire the cards, the companies will gain better knowledge of understanding consumer preferences.

“This ‘first-to-market’ credit card was developed to give companies a way to drive stronger engagement with consumers, essentially making them brand loyalists,” says George Schmelzel, Senior vice President of UMB Payment Solutions.[5]

From a company’s prospective, according to UMB, this means: