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Berman Marketing Group, Inc. announced Its Intentions to Enter Pre-Paid Debit Card Industry(Wireless News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Berman Marketing Group, a subsidiary of National HealthCare Alliance, announced its plan to enter the Pre-Paid Debit Card industry. The company's plan calls for initially pursuing the marketing of Pre-Paid Debit cards to the unbanked and underserved market. According to the Center for Financial Services Innovation (non-profit affiliate of ShoreBank Corp.) there are an estimated 40 million unbanked or underserved consumers in the United States. It is estimated as of the end of June 2007 that only 5 percent of the market has been penetrated. Bruce A Berman CEO of Berman Marketing Group Inc, and National HealthCare Alliance said, "Normally I would wait until all the obstacles were removed before making an announcement like this. However, I have had recent inquiries as to what Berman Marketing Groups plans were going forward. So, in an effort to keep shareholders informed of the company's intentions as well as giving us the leeway so we could talk openly and disclose material facts to potential business relationships, I felt this release was necessary at this time." The company's plan to enter the Pre-Paid Debit Card Market is in the development stage. There are several major obstacles that will have to be overcome for the company to execute their plan. First, an agreement with a card issuer must be reached and secondly, the company will need additional capital to fund the marketing costs associated with this venture. The company plans to obtain the ability to market Pre-Paid Debit cards by leveraging the infrastructure of Merchant Processing International (MPI) on a revenue sharing basis. MPI is owned by Bruce A. Berman. MPI is a credit card processing company that is a registered ISO with MasterCard and Visa. MPI is currently in the due diligence stage with several banks to become a Debit Card Issuer. MPI is also in negotiation stages with companies that offer the use of their platforms to issue debit cards known as white labeling. In order to go forward with this plan, MPI must obtain either a white label agreement or bank approval. Following that, it needs the approval of Visa, MasterCard or Discover. Although white labeling of debit cards is a common practice in the industry, there can be no assurance that the company will reach an agreement with an authorized issuer of debit cards. The company hopes to be marketing Pre-Paid Debit cards first quarter 2008. Bruce A. Berman continued, "We have been doing due diligence on this market and believe now is the perfect time for us to enter. Previously we were concerned about the ease and the ability for the consumer to load funds on their cards. That is no longer an issue because major recent developments in the industry have opened the doors to tens of thousands of retail locations nationwide for consumers to add funds." About the Berman Marketing Group, Inc. The Berman Marketing Group, Inc. was formed in 2007 by Bruce A. Berman and intends to be a multi-channel direct market firm specializing in direct response marketing through television, radio, Internet and print media. Prior to forming the Berman Marketing Group Inc., Bruce A. Berman has been marketing a variety of his own products using these media. ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) ((Distributed on behalf of 10Meters via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com)) ((10Meters - http://www.10meters.com)) Copyright 2007 Wireless News |