WHY IT MATTERS: Foundational statistics for consumer banking become important when analyzing alternative consumer financial products, like prepaid cards. Underbanked or off-the-grid (or illegal entities…) consumers prefer reloadable prepaid cards for self-use vs. mainstream banking. Reloadable prepaid cards for self use circumnavigates the checking account opening process and eliminates the need for a credit check or prequalificiation. Prepaid as a self-use financial instrument is something of a new(ish) trend and we can say definitively that prepaid is no longer just for gifting. Prepaid card availability is at an all time high with options including, but not limited to, retail, transit, wireless communications, government agencies, & tax refunds.
Data for this episode of Truth In Data provided by Mercator Advisory Group’s report Consumers and Prepaid: Shifting Toward Digital
