Co-Brand Debit Program Features

This guide outlines the operational model for Galileo's co-brand debit program. It details the specific services provided by Galileo and clarifies the responsibilities for each partner in this full-stack, managed solution.

Sponsor bank partnership

Galilleo manages the relationship and communication with the sponsor bank to set up the program, and coordinates with Visa and Mastercard to set up the BIN sponsorship.

Compliance and legal requirements

Galileo oversees adherence to all legal and compliance requirements, including but not limited to the BSA/AML policies, KYC (and KYB) solutions, terms and conditions, disclosures, account agreements, and customer policies such as complaint management.

End-customer digital experience application

As part of the full-stack solution, Galileo provides a white-label web and mobile app that is customized to look and feel like your brand. Your customers will use the web and mobile app to onboard the program and access their co-brand rewards account. The application is launched and managed by Galileo with minimal development effort.

See the Co-Brand Debit Application Platform guide for a complete list of the supported user journeys.

Rewards program design

Galileo works with you to design a unique rewards offering for your co-branded rewards debit card. Galileo is integrated with Ascenda, a third-party rewards provider, to calculate and track the lifetime rewards based on customer transaction data. Customers are required to link their Rewards ID with your brand during onboarding. Customers can view their lifetime rewards points in the co-brand application to redeem points towards rewards in your proprietary app.

Card issuance and processing

After onboarding, cardholders are issued a digital card that can be used immediately, Depending on your program design, your customers can also receive a physical card automatically upon account opening or by request. See the Choose a Card Strategy to learn what is best for your program.

Programs also come with card management features including setting a PIN, replacing lost, stolen, or damaged cards, reissuing expiring cards, and assessing associated fees.

Transaction processing capabilities

Co-brand programs are implemented with Galileo transaction processing features that are relevant for a co-branded rewards debit cards, including but not limited to ACH and wire transfers, bill pay to a service provider, and secure external account linking and verification.

Secure external account linking

Secure instant account linking enables account holders to connect their external accounts to their co-branded debit card with their explicit consent. This open-banking feature uses secure API connections to retrieve account details for ownership verification by Galileo, eliminating manual entry and ensuring user credentials are never exposed. Once linked, account holders can immediately begin ACH transfers to and from their accounts. This feature is powered in partnership with Finicity (Mastercard).

Balance inquiry

Balance inquiry ensures that funds are available before a customer initiates an ACH transfer to the co-brand debit account. This helps mitigate non-sufficient funds (NSF) risks, which can be disruptive to the cardholder experience and transaction process. This feature is powered in partnership with Finicity (Mastercard).

Instant account funding

Instant debit transfers enable account holders to securely pull funds from an external bank account to immediately fund an account. In the co-brand mobile and/or web app, account holders manually enter their debit card details and initiate a transfer to pull funds to their newly opened co-brand rewards debit card.

Instant debit transfers are specifically designed for cardholders to move funds between accounts they own. It is not intended for facilitating transfers to or from accounts owned by different individuals.

Statements

Cardholders can access on-demand PDF statements directly in the co-branded debit rewards app. Each statement details all account activity, including summaries of deposits, credits, and fees, along with individual transaction details for the period.

Statements are generated on a monthly cycle and cardholders are notified via email of their latest statement. Cardholders can access up to a 24-month statement history. Cardholders can request paper statements in the mail by contacting customer service.

All statements are customized with your brand’s name and logo, and are designed to meet the necessary regulatory and compliance requirements.

Risk and fraud management

Co-brand debit programs are integrated with Payment Risk Platform and Galileo Instant Verification Engine to monitor and mitigate fraudulent activity in your program. Galileo is directly responsible for design and implementation of your fraud rules and adjusting them as needed.

See Disputes management for details on dispute investigation process and services.

Cardholder services

Galileo acts as the extension of your customer service organization for co-brand programs. Customer service agents are trained on the co-brand platform and are experts in payments, ready to help customers with questions that need to be addressed outside of the automated Galileo Voice (also known as IVR) and chat support.

Multichannel customer service

By phone, cardholders will first interact with the system, which requires multi-factor authentication to validate their identity to gain secure access to their account information. The customer will be presented with a menu of self-service options that can be handled via IVR.

Cardholders also have access to chat support when logged in to the mobile or web app. Chat is integrated with the Program API, allowing AI-powered virtual banking assistants to retrieve cardholder specific information, such as account information and balance inquiries. The following are the types of inquiries that are handled by IVR and chat for co-brand debit programs.

Card management

Cardholder inquiries related to managing their physical or virtual co-branded rewards debit card:

• Activate virtual or physical cards
• Set or change PIN
• Report a card as lost, stolen, or damaged cards
• Request to temporarily freeze/unfreeze a card
• Request to reissue a card, including validating the shipping address for a physical card
• Add a secondary account to the co-brand debit rewards account

Account information

Cardholder inquiries about their account status and transaction history:

• Balance inquiries
• Request recent transaction history, including authorizations, settled transactions, and deposits
• Review direct deposit information, including the account and routing number used for their direct deposit and the deposit amount of the last direct deposit
• Check rewards balance
• Security and permissions, including international transactions and account flags
• Verify fees, including pending, fees month-to-date and year-to-date
• Provide load/retail locations (location/address/phone)

Bill payments and transfers

Cardholder inquiries about moving money:

• Bill pay to authorized service providers
• Review bill payments
• Transfers —
  • Request to transfer money to a linked bank account
  • Send funds to and from a linked account

Disputes management

Galileo provides end-to-end management of the dispute process for both card transactions and ACH disputes. When a cardholder contacts customer service, Galileo agents gather all necessary information, such as written statements and sales receipts. Galileo disputes services reviews the information collected during intake, all cardholder information and transaction history, as well as any information provided by the merchant through the chargeback process. Throughout the dispute investigation, Galileo ensures the cardholder receives timely, accurate, and compliant updates at every stage. Galileo disputes services adheres to all required regulatory timeframes and obligations, as applicable.

Cardholder communications

Galileo manages cardholder communications for co-brand debit programs, using email to inform customers of specific activity on their accounts.

Card lifecycle marketing

Galileo runs all acquisition, onboarding, and utilization campaigns to incentivize customers to use your co-branded debit rewards card.

Contact Galileo if you are interested in launching a co-brand debit program.