American Express offers prepaid debit card

6/15/2011

NEW YORK — American Express is offering a lost-cost prepaid card that’s exempt from new U.S. caps on debit-card swipe fees.

AmEx, unlike other prepaid-card issuers, won’t charge for online purchases, monthly maintenance, balance inquiries, activation, replacement cards, or for reloading the cards through checking and savings accounts, the New York lender said this week. There will be retail fees for customers who reload with cash.

The cards may be an alternative for customers of the biggest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., which announced plans to scale back their debit-rewards programs after caps on the swipe fees they collect were enacted last year.

A cap on swipe fees of 12 cents a transaction is to take effect July 12, replacing a formula that averages 1.14 percent of the purchase price.