Prepaid card use rose by about 18 percent in 2011 as consumers dropped traditional banking products such as checking accounts with higher fees, according to a study released today.

About 13 percent of U.S. adults had prepaid cards in 2011 compared with 11 percent in 2010, according to the study by Pleasanton, California-based Javelin Strategy & Research, a market-research firm.

"People used to think of them as cards for people who didn't have a lot of money, whereas today they're becoming much more common for a variety of uses and a variety of demographics," said Beth Robertson, director of payments research for Javelin.

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