Introducing Reward Pass - an R&R option for multi-country award redemption

As Employee Recognition and Reward continues to grow at Reward Gateway, being able to provide reward redemption options in as many countries as possible is critical.

Since introducing multi-country, points-based recognition, we have been growing our Reward Marketplace redemption option. More recently, we have also been looking at additional options which will help expand the global reach of employee reward redemption as widely as possible.

Introducing Reward Pass, this is a Mastercard prepaid card that allows employees to redeem any award they receive as a digital or physical Mastercard. This can then be used to make a purchase wherever Mastercard is accepted, online or directly in a store. Please note that Reward Pass Mastercard is not an eGift Voucher.

Reward Pass can provide an employee reward redemption option in nearly every country across the world.

Reward Pass Client Fees

There will be a one-off additional cost for clients to add Reward Pass to their program (as they would incur if they added any new product to their program). This cost is £5, AUS$10 or US$7.50 per applicable employee per year (to be paid for all eligible employees in the countries that Reward Pass is required for).
All transaction fees will be covered by Reward Gateway; no transaction fees will be transferred to the client or employee.

Reward Pass Available Countries

Reward Pass can be added as a redemption option to any country, unless there are financial (banking) sanctions against that country - which very few countries have.

If you would like to explore offering Reward Pass to employees in a country that isn't yet listed, please speak with your Client Success Manager.

List of countries where Reward Pass is currently available:

ARGENTINA, AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, BRAZIL, CANADA, CHILE, CHINA, CROATIA, CZECH REP, EGYPT, ESTONIA, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, GUATEMALA, INDIA, IRELAND, ITALY, JAPAN, KENYA, LUXEMBOURG, MALAYSIA, MEXICO, NETHERLANDS, PERU, PHILIPPINES, PORTUGAL, SINGAPORE, SPAIN, TAIWAN

Reward Pass in the UK, US & Australia

In the UK, US and Australia we have a wide range of redemption options; therefore, there are no plans to introduce Reward Pass in these countries. Please speak with your Client Success Manager if you have any further questions about this.

July, 2024 Update:

For the US, Reward Pass will not be an option because we now have Virtual Promotional Prepaid Mastercard USD and Virtual Promotional Prepaid Visa USD as our preferred prepaid options.

Why are we making this change?

There are no fees associated with Promotional Prepaid Mastercard USD and Virtual Promotional Prepaid Visa USD and it is an improved UX experience for our users.

Here are a few things you should know:

1. This card must be used within 6 months from the time you receive your link.
2. For the Virtual Promotional Prepaid Mastercard, it can be used online, for phone/mail orders, or in stores that accept mobile wallet where Debit Mastercard is accepted.
3. For the Virtual Promotional Prepaid Visa, it can be used online, for phone/mail orders, where Debit Visa is accepted.
4. The Mastercard can be added to a mobile wallet while the Visa card cannot.
5. Top-up is not available.

This change does not impact other Reward Pass products we have live for other countries.

If you have any further questions then please reach out to our support team.

Reward Pass Currencies

Reward Pass is available in eight different home currencies (see the table below). Each Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard will be issued in the employee's local currency, where this matches one of Reward Pass's home currencies (e.g. employees based in Canada will receive their Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard in Canadian Dollars).

If the local currency in the employee's country does not match one of Reward Pass's home currencies, the Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard will be issued in the most relevant and common currency for that country. In most cases, this will be US Dollar or Euro (e.g. employees based in Argentina will receive their cards in US Dollars). Employees will be able to use their cards in their home country, for purchases in their local currency; however, in this case there is a currency conversion fee that needs to be paid by the employee on each transaction (see the next section for more details).

Reward Pass user fees & limits by currency

If the currency that a purchase is made in is different to the currency the card has been issued in, there will be a currency conversion fee of 2% of the transaction amount. This will be taken from the credit on the Reward Pass Mastercard.

* A card maintenance fee for any cards that keep a balance beyond their twelve month expiry period. There is no card maintenance fee for the twelve month expiry period of the card. After that point, maintenance fees continue to be charged until the card balance is $0.

** A one-time closure fee, charged if a check is issued to the user for any remaining balance, in the event they close their Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard account.

*** A one-time card-reissue fee, charged to users who request for their Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard to be reissued.

**** The cardholders will be prompted to undergo a Know Your Customer check once a total order value of 150£/€/C$ has been accumulated against their email. A national ID and/or a utility bill from the past 90 days have to be presented for the verification.

Reward Pass redemption options

*The Reward Pass Prepaid Virtual Mastercard can be added to the merchant’s app to be used for in-store purchases, but the acceptance of the card will be dependent on the merchant’s system.

The option to add the Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard to Google Pay and Apple Pay is already enabled for Reward Pass USD and CAD products. Reward Pass EUR and GBP are planned to be available at some point in 2023 - date TBD by Reward Pass. 

Delivery

All physical cards are shipped from the USA with the exception of INR which are shipped from India. All the cards are shipped within 1-2 days and the expected delivery times are as follows:

• North America - 5-7 days
• UK - 7-10 days
• Europe - up to 15 days
• LATAM, Africa, APAC - up to 15 days

Delivery can take up to 15 days, but delays may apply due to the pandemic and/or the reliability of the local postal services.

FAQs

Can you top up a Reward Pass card?
Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard isn’t like the regular gift cards and cannot be topped up. They should be treated like a debit card with cash. 

Can my organization’s branding be added to Reward Pass? 

Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard does not support customized branding.

Can I withdraw money from my Reward Pass card?
Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard can be used for purchases as any other Mastercard (redemption options explained above) but you would not be able to withdraw money from it.

Can I swap my physical card for a virtual one or vice-versa?
To swap physical and virtual cards, just request via RG support team and we can get this requested.

Can I combine several Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercards in my wallet?
One wallet may contain several cards, but cards cannot be combined, either physical or virtual.

Can I use multiple cards on one transaction?
Unfortunately, multiple cards cannot be used on one transaction for online purchases, therefore your order value must not exceed your Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard balance. For in-store purchases, it may be possible but it depends on the retailer.

When does a Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard expire?
When you choose to spend your award on Reward Pass, you will receive a token to activate your Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard. The token will expire after 3 months and the Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard will expire after 12 months from the activation date.

Can I get a refund for my Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard?
Refunds will be available up until the token has been redeemed or expired. Once you’ve redeemed your token and activated your Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard refunds will not be available.

I was not able to order a physical card, as the option was not available, why is that?
This is most probably because the minimum limit for physical cards has not been met. For all limits, please see the table above. The only locale where physical cards are not available is China. 

Can I redeem the Reward Pass Prepaid Mastercard with the “Self Service” at an automated fuel dispenser?
The Card cannot be used at the “Self Service” hence you must pay at the till.

I am asked to verify my identity for my Reward Pass purchase.
When a customer reaches a total purchase value of 150EUR/GBP/CAD, they will need to pass a Know Your Customer check and verify their identity. This can be done by submitting a government-issued ID as proof of identity. A utility bill from the past 90 days might be requested if there is an issue with the verification process. Once a customer passes the check - they should not be prompted to pass another check, unless there are changes in the personal information in the account.

Why are my Reward Pass transactions declining and how can I unblock my Reward Pass?
Our Fraud Prevention team owns transaction-level rules that result in declines on our cards, while these rules are designed to prevent fraud, there will unfortunately always be times where legitimate transactions get declined. The team are always working on lowering false positives.
We are also working on increasing the speed in which cardholders can reattempt after initial decline by automating the escalation process for these false positives. In the near future, cardholders will be able to call Customer Service and explain their card is not working. From there Customer Service will simply place a specific notation on the account and an automated bot will pick up the cards with the specific notation and exclude them from the rule(s) that they're hitting.
As it stands, having the cardholder contact CS directly is the best way to troubleshoot declines, the cardholder can reach out via the contact us form / live chat found in their digital wallet.