Retail banking giant Green Dot is dropping $147 million stacks for ownership of rival prepay card issuer, RushCard. On Monday, Green Dot said it will purchase RushCard’s parent company UniRush, which was founded by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, and the payroll debit card company, Rapid!. RushCard hit the scene in 2003 and one of the first prepaid cards for minorities. Their low fees was a hit with customers and RushCard quickly became a legitimate brand. Unfortunately, in 2015, a highly-publicized technology fiasco threatened RushCard’s business. Over 400,000 customers went without access to their funds for weeks after a software upgrade went left. Customers called in thousands of complaints, tying up RushCard customer service lines for weeks. Russell Simmons later apologized for the matter and even funded some customer’s expenses out-of-pocket. Green Dot is moving forward with the acquisition however. The main reason for the purchase is because of Russell Simmons name recognition and RushCard’s customer base of 750,000 people. With the purchase, Green Dot will not be liable for any settlements tied to the 2015 fiasco. This includes the ongoing investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Green Dot says that they will continue using the name RushCard.
