MyGallons.com has an interesting way of using cards to pre-pay for gas. Essentially, you buy gallons of gas at today’s prices for consumption at a later date.
When you use the MyGallons gas card at participating retailers you are only paying the price that you committed to when you pre-purchased gas, regardless of what the current price at the pump is.
The great thing about this concept is twofold:
- For the financial institution backing this card, there is an incredible amount of float and guaranteed interchange income.
- This is a great way to change the spending habits of consumers and help them manage their budget at the same time.
Some questions to ask yourself:
- What ways can you think of to change the spending habits of your members in favor of your cards?
- What ideas like this could you use to promote thrift, savings and smart money management for your members?
1 comment so far
1 Jim Updike // Jul 30, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Brian,
This is a nice idea. However, I notice they still don’t have any locations signed up.
As an interesting side note to this concept, you may remember Chrysler’s program guaranteeing gas at $2.99 per gallon. They were able to do this by creating a hedge in the commodities market via Goldman Sachs. If a bunch of us got togeather, we might be able to do the same. (It would probably drive NCUA to distraction…).
Here’s the interesting kicker. We can’t do this without Goldman Sachs; they have a patent on the program!
Leave a Comment