Revolution Money had three products: RevolutionCard credit card, Revolution MoneyExchange which provides free online money transfers between members, and RevolutionGift, a gift card. Revolution MoneyExchange accounts were issued by First Bank and Trust.[3]
Background
Revolution MoneyExchange was an online bank intended as an alternative to PayPal and its chief competitor, Google Checkout. It was founded as GratisCard in April 2007.[4]Ted Leonsis and Steve Case were on its board of directors.[5] Revolution MoneyExchange was backed by Citi, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank AG, as well as its parent company, Revolution LLC.[6]
There were no fees charged for online transfers between accounts. The Revolution MoneyExchange Card was a stored-value card that allowed account holders to access their funds for purchases at merchant locations on the RevolutionCard network and for cash withdrawals at ATMs nationwide.[7]
RevolutionGift was a prepaid PIN based gift card with no account number printed on the card. Other features included the capacity to send money via AOL Instant Messenger.[8]
On November 18, 2009, American Express announced that it would acquire Revolution Money for US$500 million, and finally did for US$300 million.[9] Revolution MoneyExchange was purchased by American Express in January 2010, and was renamed Serve Virtual Enterprises, Inc. Serve Enterprises then launched Serve and discontinued Revolution MoneyExchange on March 28, 2011.