I got an email from mypoints advertising obopay.com which is basically a way for you send payment using text messages on cell phones. They'll give you 150 mypoints and $5 debit card to start you off. They also have a referral bonus as well ($5--I remember when paypal first started, it was a $20 bonus but that was another era). Obopay is similar in concept to paypal except that you can send payments using a phone (which is more convenient than email). There is a 10 cent fee to send a payment, but no fee to receive payment. The account is linked to a prepaid MC, and you can use it as a debit card. I couldn't figure out the fees for cash withdrawal from an ATM, but you can always request a check from them for a 10 cent fee.

The FT free miles hook is that currently, they are not charging any fees for uploading money via credit cards (they only take Visa or MC). There is a $200 day limit. It doesn't say how long this promo will last. Looking at the t&c, the regular credit card fee is 2.5% and $0.30 (which is still lower than what paypal charges). You can also load up the account for free from a checking account and again there is a $200/day limit.

The sign-up process requires a social security number. They say that they aren't doing credit inquires, but need this to comply with money-laundering laws. If it wasn't for this, I would have signed up right away, but this does make me hesitate a bit. I'm curious to get the FT perspective on this!

I can't find any reference to the $200/day limit...only that you can only load a max of $2500 on the card. In the demo under "send money" the example is a $345.52 payment for books.

The SSN requirement makes me leery but they seem to require it because they are a bank (read their terms---they refer to themselves as a bank). They make no reference of having FDIC insurance which all banks have so I'm not sure what to think.

Upon further reading it seems that the prepaid cards are issued by First Premier Bank and that Obopay is simply acting as a 3rd party to deposit and withdraw payments from this First Premier Bank prepaid mastercard.

Using this for miles is no good because:
"To send money using a credit card you will be charged $0.30 plus 2.5% of the amount that you send."

All of this info is available only in the terms...couldn't find much other disclose on how this works anywhere else on their website. I don't like that...the company should have a plain and easy to read disclosure of how things work, IMHO.

Thanks for posting this though! Too bad that it doesn't look like a good replacement for paypal. I'm hoping there will be a worthy competitor one of these days.

Somewhere in the FAQs, the $200 upload limit per day is mentioned. Of course, it doesn't say whether it is $200 total or $200 per card/bank account, etc.

Also, while they will charge for credit card uploads, currently this fee is waived. Of course, there is no mention about how long this promo will run for (yeah, they're really good about spelling out the details...). I figure it'll probably be good for 6 months at the minimum (unless there is a huge rush of people from FT trying to get FF miles ) as they want people to try out the service.

Fee listing on the site:

Obopay Fees
Obopay Membership Obopay gives you $5*

Send Money Using Obopay
mobile phone (SMS, WAP, or APP) $0.10
Internet (Online) $0.10
'send money' cancellation $0.10

Get Money Using Obopay
get money from another Obopay user FREE
accepting a request to 'get money' $0.10

Manage Your Obopay Account
check account balance FREE
check account transaction history FREE

Add Money to Your Obopay Account
debit card FREE
credit card FREE
transferring money from a bank account or checking account (ACH) FREE
load network center varies by location
failed transaction due to lack of funds $6.00

Withdraw Money From Obopay
ATM withdrawal (domestic)** FREE
ATM withdrawal (international)** $2.75 if successful
$1.75 if declined
request check $0.10

Additional Transactions
use your Prepaid MasterCard � at accepted merchants FREE
issue replacement card $6.95
issue replacement card with overnight shipping $20.00
request account paper statement (standard) $1.95
request account paper statement (special) $4.00


* Obopay will add $5 to your account upon activation of your Obopay Prepaid Mastercard�.

**Additional withdrawal fees may be charged by certain ATM operators.

**Some international ATM networks levy a fee regardless of function.

No charge for ATM withdraw in US (prob $1.50 to $2.00) for each withdraw of $1000/day. Or $0.10 for a check for the full amount.

Just did some more research.. it appears to be a legit company.

Although their privacy policy does not match up with the printed text on the website..

Supplementation of Information
Obopay is committed to using state-of-the-art technology, methodology, and services to protect customers, consumers and Obopay itself from credit risks, fraud and operational compromise. In addition to collecting and archiving application and transaction data from customers and consumers, Obopay also retrieves supplemental data from third parties to facilitate credit and operational decisions and monitoring. These third parties may include national and regional consumer and business credit bureaus, check verification services, address verification services and other third party transaction processors. Once the information is retrieved from third parties, it is archived in a secure environment. This data may be used to build proprietary databases or to develop statistically based credit, fraud or marketing models.


And the privacy policy of the issuing bank basiclly says they will sell all your info they can get until you send them a form saying not to (at which time they have already sold it to their 100% owned data mining company and no long need to sell it..))


And no one there now for customer support... and the person who says Obopay the first time pronouces it as OPay and the 2nd person in the voicemail box says OBOPay (Just amusing). Going to wait till tommorrow to sign up.. to many holes in their offical privacy policy.. otherwise it looks like a good way to get 1000 miles a day for $1.50 or $2.00 (the atm fee).

BTW I will call in the morning and see what info I can get and if they will send it in wiriting... if 100 of us call they might wonder whats up.. the whole credit card fee thing is easy.. it clearly states under fees that credit card deposit is free. So if they try and charge a fee you just dispute the charge with your credit card company. The biggest issue is the privacy of your information and if they pull your credit.

The big difference is that these guys charge to send - PayPal charges to receive.

I have an Obopay account. They are definitely a legit company and partnered with Amp'd mobile to provide payment service via mobile phone. I signed up under a promo with Amp'd to receive a $25 prepaid MC. Got account confirmation via text message almost instantly, received the card very quickly and have already spent the $25. That's pretty much the limit of my experience with them.

One thing regarding the miles that I would need to confirm: what is the transaction coded as? If you load your Obopay card using a miles CC, is it charged as a purchase, cash advance, balance transfer? This is certainly an important question to answer as miles are typically only gained from purchases...

That is my question too. How do they show up if you use your miles cc as a funding source for PayPal? I would think it might be handled the same way.

Can you send money from a PayPal acct. to an Obopay acct.? If so, you could get your money out of a PayPal account for free.

Not that it would help you earn any miles, though.

EFT doesn't already do this?

Yes, I can transfer money from PayPal to my checking account for free.

I spoke to customer service and they indicated that it was currently free to transfer money to the account via a credit card, however they reserve the right to change this at any time with no advance notice and they refused to send me in writing that it was currently at no charge.

This is something that would be easy to dispute later but still...

They also confirmed that they do not sell or release your data, however they do transfer your data to the company that issues the card and they have their own privacy policy. The company that issues the card's policy basicly states we will sell your data as soon as we get it and may also run your credit if we so choose. If you want us not to sell your data then you have to send us a letter to opt out, however you can not send this letter until the account is setup. This gives them time to sell your data to a third party.

In addition Obopay says they will not run your credit or appear on your credit reports, however their partner does reserve the right to run your credit or make inquiries if they determine it is required..

While the free or almost free miles would be nice.. not sure if it is worth my information going all over...

Oops. Forgive my ignorance. So how does PayPal make a profit?

PayPal makes money by charging a fee and a percentage of the transaction to people receiving payments from other PayPal members.

For example, say I sell you something on eBay and you pay me with money from your PayPal account. PayPal would deduct their cut of that payment before depositing that money in my PayPal account. The amount they keep depends on what type of PayPal account I have (Personal vs Business) and what source of funding you used (existing PayPal balance vs credit card). Once I have the leftover funds, I can transfer that money to my linked checking account for free (after a few days for processing the EFT).

Alternatively, I can spend that money with someone else who accepts PayPal and PayPal would deduct their share of the payment. I can also use my PayPal debit card to withdraw cash from an ATM for which PayPal charges me $1.00. Or I can buy something at with my debit card and actually get a small percentage back. PayPal can be very flexible but their fees can get pretty high for those receiving payments.