BANKING

Third World Credit: A Laguna Hills company has developed a product that it hopes will revolutionize the way residents of Third World countries pay for retail purchases.

Similar to a prepaid telephone calling card, a money card system by Productivity Enhancement Products allows individuals to purchase goods and services without using cash.

The company already has sold the system to banks and retailers in several African countries and hopes to grow by finding more customers in developing nations.

“The card is suited to Third World countries,” said Dan Beadle, the company’s president, “because those are places where people either have no credit or credit cards are not taken.”

As with prepaid telephone cards, a customer pays cash for the card. When purchases are made, the card tallies the amount spent and the bank deducts it from the cash in the cardholder’s account. The catch is that customers can use the cards only in places where both banks and shops have purchased hardware to process the transactions.