MONEY

H&R Block taps W.D.M.'s Social Money for savings platform

Matthew Patane
mpatane@dmreg.com

West Des Moines-based Social Money has snagged tax preparation giant H&R Block as one of its clients.

H&R Block has chosen the company's CorePro platform for its Emerald Prepaid MasterCard program, which has more than 3 million users, Social Money said in a statement.

Social Money said H&R Block's Emerald Card customers can use CorePro to set a goal, watch their savings grow and possibly receive rewards should they meet certain milestones along the way.

CorePro is a programming interface that banks and other finance companies can use to build their own savings-goal platforms. Those companies can then provide their customers with the service. Social Money launched CorePro in October 2013.

"Our technology helps close the loop with regard to offering a complete financial services relationship," Social Money Founder Jon Gaskell said in a statement.

H&R Block's use of CorePro will be ready for the 2015 tax season, according to the statement.

Other CorePro users include Qapital, a personal finance management company based in Sweden.

Social Money launched as a Des Moines-area startup in 2008 with Smarty Pig, the company's own platform that allows customers to set their own savings goals.