Credit Card News
Netspend Introduces Real Madrid Prepaid Mastercard
One of the most popular sports teams in the world is launching a prepaid card in the United States.
About the Real Madrid Netspend Prepaid Mastercard:
Fans of champion Real Madrid Football Club can now obtain a prepaid card celebrating the team. With the Real Madrid Netspend Prepaid Mastercard, fans can not only get a special card design but also earn the opportunity to unlock VIP experiences. Plus, the card offers cashback perks for select brands. This new card comes via Real Madrid’s long-term partnership with Ouro.
To celebrate the launch of the card, fans can also be entered to win Real Madrid prizes. This includes a Grand Prize 4-day trip for two to Madrid (including airfare, lodging, and transportation) that features tickets to a Real Madrid match as well as a behind-the-scenes tour of the team’s remodeled home stadium, $1,000 in merchandise, and a $1,000 cash prize loaded onto the winner’s card. Other prizes available include autographed jerseys, team merchandise, and more. Cardholders can enter this contest by earning one entry each time they pay with their card, up to 200 entries total through August 31st, 2024.
According to the Netspend site, their prepaid cards are subject to a $2 fee per signature or PIN-based transaction. Other fees include a $2.00 ATM fee and a $5.95 inactivity fee. This latter expense is applied after 60 days where no reloads, transactions or withdrawals occur and continues monthly until activity is recorded.
What they’re saying:
Announcing this new prepaid offering, Ouro president and Chief Brand Officer Bertrand Sosa said, “With this collaboration, we promised to give fans more of what they love and ways to take their money further. With the excitement following Real Madrid’s recent and 15th Champions League victory, this launch is perfectly timed to offer fans an unmatched experience.”
My thoughts:
Even if you’re a massive fan of Real Madrid, from a financial standpoint, I cannot advise you to get this card. If paying $2 per transaction wasn’t bad enough, a $5.95 inactivity fee to not use the card may actually be worse. Plus, if you were to max out your 200 entries for the current content, that would be $400 paid in fees alone! Quite honestly, if I were a fan of Real Madrid, I’d be a bit insulted that the team would even allow their name to be used on such a product.
A few years ago, I would have expected this type of product (but not the fee specifics) from Cardless as they offered sport-centric credit cards, including some foreign football clubs. Unfortunately, the company has since pivoted and discontinued those sports team cards. So, alas, it seems that Netspend/Ouro is moving into that niche — but doesn’t seem to be making anything attractive.