PaymentsJournal
SUBSCRIBE
  • Analysts Coverage
  • Truth In Data
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Industry Opinions
  • News
  • Resources
No Result
View All Result
PaymentsJournal
  • Analysts Coverage
  • Truth In Data
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Industry Opinions
  • News
  • Resources
No Result
View All Result
PaymentsJournal
No Result
View All Result

Despite Egregious Headline, MSNBC Manages to Show Value of Prepaid Cards

Mercator Advisory Group by Mercator Advisory Group
April 18, 2012
in Analysts Coverage
0
Andre Stoorvogel, Author at PaymentsJournal
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedIn

In a poorly-titled post decrying high fees, MSNBC’s ‘Consumerman’ blogger explains why people have turned to prepaid cards for financial services by citing research from organizations like the Pew Charitable trusts. The post, entitled “Despite ‘egregious’ fees, prepaid card sales soar” details how consumers prefer the straight forward pricing for service that prepaid cards offer along with their benefits.

To find out, the Pew Health Group’s Financial Security Portfolio conducted focus groups with people who buy prepaid debit cards. Users said they like the cards because they help them budget and control their spending. They put a certain amount of money on the card and when it’s empty, they’re done.

Most of those in the focus groups also had checking accounts. But they use prepaid cards to avoid overdraft fees.

The post fails to make any meaningful comparison to the value offered by other forms of financial services. The other place where ‘ConsumerMan’ Herb Weisbaum should have done more research is where he says that cardholders could lose money on prepaid cards.

Something else to remember: unlike checking accounts, prepaid cards may not have FDIC protection. If the company goes bust, you could be out the money loaded onto the card.

He is not clear which company and does not seem to understand how prepaid cards work. If a program manager were to fail, the funds on the cards would be held by the bank, so those funds do not vanish into thin air. Reclaiming them might take some work, but it is incorrect to say that cardholders would lose all their money. If the bank fails, the funds are insured to the cardholder as long as the FDIC can ascertain how much is due to each cardholder.

Click here to read more from MSNBC.

Tags: Prepaid
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedIn

    Analyst Coverage, Payments Data, and News Delivered Daily

    Sign up for the PaymentsJournal Newsletter to get exclusive insight and data from Mercator Advisory Group analysts and industry professionals.

    Must Reads

    On-Demand Webinar: Solving the Digital Onboarding Challenge​ – Increasing Conversions without Increasing Risk

    On-Demand Webinar: Solving the Digital Onboarding Challenge​ – Increasing Conversions without Increasing Risk

    February 8, 2023
    legacy infrastructure

    How Modernizing IT Can Help Banks Compete With Fintechs

    February 7, 2023
    Buy Now Pay Later BNPL, B2B BNPL

    B2B BNPL Offers a High-Potential New Chapter in Payments

    February 6, 2023
    eCommerce On Social Media, social commerce

    The Rise of Social Commerce and Social Payments

    February 3, 2023
    Electroneum AnyTask; ETN Crypto, sales enablement

    Ethical Financial Selling: The Role of Compliance Technology and Sales Enablement

    February 2, 2023
    direct deposit

    Nacha Launches Campaign to Reach Millennials on the Benefits of Direct Deposit

    February 1, 2023
    Equinix Helps UK-Based Payments Provider Enable Faster, More Reliable Payments Processing

    Equinix Helps UK-Based Payments Provider Enable Faster, More Reliable Payments Processing

    January 31, 2023
    credit card tumbling

    How to Detect, and Prevent, Credit Card Tumbling

    January 30, 2023

    • Advertise With Us
    • About Us
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Subscribe
    ADVERTISEMENT
    • Analysts Coverage
    • Truth In Data
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Industry Opinions
    • News
    • Resources

    © 2022 PaymentsJournal.com

    • Analysts Coverage
    • Truth In Data
    • Podcasts
    • Industry Opinions
    • Faster Payments
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Events
    No Result
    View All Result

      Register to download the Equinix report - Dojo Delivers Fast, Reliable and Secure Card Payments to Businesses on Platform Equinix