KANSAS CITY, MO--(Marketwired - November 12, 2014) - H&R Block's (NYSE: HRB) prepaid card, the Emerald MasterCard®, received recognition as one of the best options for consumers with a bank account in a report just released from a leading industry consumer group for the second straight year. Given excellent ratings for convenience and safety, and very good ratings for value and fee accessibility and clarity, the Emerald Card ranked second overall in the category for prepaid cards used in addition to a bank account.
"We are proud to continue to lead the industry in providing a low-cost, rich-in-features prepaid card to consumers," said Greg Quarles, president of H&R Block financial services. "We continue to innovate and will add features and functionality to the Emerald Card that we are sure will keep us among the best consumer choices for a general purpose reloadable prepaid card."
The latest recognition is in addition to the Emerald Card winning Best in Category and Top of Wallet by industry publication Paybefore earlier this year joining what is fast becoming a long list of industry accomplishments. The Emerald Card received recognition due to the card's low fees, user-friendly features, online functionality and security.
The Emerald Card, one of the three largest prepaid card portfolios in the country, also ranked among the top three consumer-friendly prepaid cards by Bankrate.com. Last year the Emerald Card Mobile Banking™ app was named the Outstanding Mobile Wallet and Mobile Application by Paybefore. Also, earlier this year the company announced a partnership to increase the reload locations.
Close to 2.4 million H&R Block clients opted for the Emerald Card in 2014, loading more than $9.2 billion. Since the Emerald Card's launch in 2006, more than $67 billion has been loaded onto Emerald Cards.
About H&R Block
H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) is the world's largest consumer tax services provider. More than 650 million tax returns have been prepared worldwide by and through H&R Block since 1955. In fiscal 2014, H&R Block had annual revenues over $3.0 billion with 24.2 million tax returns prepared worldwide. Tax return preparation services are provided in approximately 12,000 company-owned and franchise retail tax offices worldwide by professional tax preparers, and through H&R Block Tax Software products. H&R Block Bank provides affordable financial services products. For more information, visit the H&R Block Newsroom at http://newsroom.hrblock.com/.