SMS inquiries now available across NYCE Network

NYCE Payments Network, LLC, a U.S. electronic payments network and a Metavante company, announced that it plans to offer balance inquiries by text message to its financial institution participants as a standard feature of full participation in the NYCE Network.

NYCE is extending its balance inquiry functionality which is widely available at its Network ATMs. With the basic text message transactions at no additional costs customers will be able to use text messaging to request and receive real-time balance information on their primary accounts. Text message balance inquiries will work for virtually all mobile phone users regardless of their mobile carrier or the type of handset they use.

“Text message balance inquiries further extend the reach of our nationwide ATM network directly into the pockets of the country’s mobile phone users,” said Steve Rathgaber, NYCE president and chief operating officer. “With mobile financial services quickly becoming mainstream, NYCE believes that consumers will soon expect the ability to access their demand deposit accounts using their mobile phones — in much the same way they expect that access through an ATM today. As a network provider, we deliver better customer satisfaction for our financial institution clients by making sure they can easily adapt to the ways consumers want to access their accounts.”