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In a move designed to provide a national reach for its newly launched Pulse Select surcharge-free ATM network, the Pulse electronic funds transfer network says it has formed an alliance with MoneyPass, which operates one of the country's largest surcharge-free ATM networks. Pulse announced the agreement today at the Pulse 2009 conference in Austin, Texas. Pulse, which is owned by Discover Financial Services, will resell the MoneyPass surcharge-free ATM network to its bank and credit-union customers, Douglas P. Miraglia, president of the MoneyPass Network, tells ATM&Debit News, a CardLine sister publication. Pulse Select is "pretty small," says a Pulse spokesperson, who did not provide specific numbers. MoneyPass is one of the nation's largest and fastest-growing surcharge-free ATM networks with 16,500 ATMs. "The alliance with MoneyPass gives Pulse Select a much larger national reach," the Pulse spokesperson says. Under the agreement, if a bank or credit union joins MoneyPass, its customers could use MoneyPass' ATM network surcharge-free, Miraglia says. To facilitate the agreement, MoneyPass and Pulse connected their switches, Pulse and MoneyPass say. If a customer of one of Pulse's client banks or credit unions uses his card at a MoneyPass ATM, MoneyPass will process the transaction surcharge-free, Miraglia says. Currently, 34 million debit cards participate in the MoneyPass network, and he predicts the agreement will add 2 million cards and 100 to 200 banks to the network in the next 18 months. MoneyPass, which serves more than 1,000 financial institutions, is part of Elan Financial Services, which is owned by U.S. Bancorp in Minneapolis.
