MyCardBlog

I was not aware that your driver’s license can be used as a debit card until my friend Jon told me the trick today. I think it’s a very interesting idea to use our driver’s licenses as a debit card. So I did some research and found out that this idea was already put in practice for more than one year by National Payment Card LLC. And people in 24 states in the United State can use their driver’s licenses as debit card and use them at the pumps or anywhere else.

National Payment Card LLC is said to be the only Non-Bank service provider whose ACH Decoupled Debit platform has been designed exclusively for the gas station /convenience store industry. Their patented technology can turn existing cards, such as driver’s licenses, loyalty cards or membership cards, into private label debit cards. What’s a brilliant idea!

Currently, their business focus is on the gas stations. They want to spread the idea that a driver’s license can be used at the gas stations. The reason is very simple, “It’s one of the only markets price-sensitive enough that a few pennies off can count as a serious incentive for consumers.”As I mentioned previously, there are 24 states in the United States where people can register their driver’s license and use it at the pump just as a general debit card with a pre-selected PIN. (The 24 states are highlighted in yellow in the following map.)

How does this work?

First, you have to register your driver’s license at www.rollbackprice.com. You have to provide your name, address, driver’s license number, birth date, bank information and a PIN.

After confirmation, you are eligible to use your driver’s license by swiping your driver’s license (linked directly, via the existing magnetic stripe, to your bank account), and entering a PIN.

The transaction is not processed by general network but via National Payment Card network which can substantially reduce the cost for many gas station owners. And this is why many gas stations will give you a certain amount discount for using the driver’s license at the pump. (Debit cards and credit cards are forms of payment that carry large merchant fees from the banking and credit card industry. These charges are  actually indirectly charge more money for the consumer.)

I would say this is really a great move in the payment industry. The only drawback is you can only use it at the gas station right now, although they want to promote the technique to other places in the long run. If we can use the payment card at other places, we might save a lot of money each year.