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.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Thought leadership on regulatory changes, economic trends, corporate success stories, and tactical solutions for treasurers, CFOs, risk managers, controllers, and other finance professionals
  • Informative weekly newsletter featuring news, analysis, real-world cas studies, and other critical content
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.