The new “Prepaid Cards in the US, 8th Edition” market research report presents a deeply detailed analysis of the opportunities and challenges confronting the companies participating in the prepaid card segment, whether they be card managers, marketers, or issuers. Forecasts for each of the major prepaid card categories are also included.
The adaptability of prepaid debit cards is manifest in the ever-growing roster of commercial sectors finding they are the right products to solve their payables needs. The cards are more secure than checks, reloadable for ongoing use and create a direct relationship between businesses and customers or employees.
The use case for prepaid debit cards such as payroll cards, healthcare spending account tools, corporate expense trackers and government payments disbursement aids continues to strengthen with growth in each of those categories. These prepaid debit cards will represent $373 billion in consumer spending in 2023.
Every segment of prepaid debit cards is growing with a softening in demand only for general purpose reloadable (GPR) cards managed by marketers, like Netspend or Green Dot.
The GPR prepaid debit card has provided an off-ramp from the use of cash-only for the 20% of Americans who are underbanked and provided an on-ramp to digital commerce for Americans who are unbanked or who do not wish to use their own credit or debit cards online. These open-loop prepaid cards, running on the major card networks, have also featured access to savings and money management tools to help create more financial opportunities for their holders.
While consumers will spend almost $100 billion in 2023 using their GPR prepaid debit cards, product growth is being hamstrung by the divergent paths taken by marketers and issuers. Some prepaid card marketers and issuers have found they can generate greater long-term revenue by folding their GPR prepaid card programs into the new account programs of their Denovo banks.
These new banks attack GPR prepaid card use by offering no monthly account fees and no overdraft fees. The publisher surveys have found that bank account fees are anathema to GPR cardholders so these fee-free pitches may well resonate with them.
For fintech and issuers, bank charters facilitate access to low-cost funds (through deposits) which they pair with high-value services including automatic savings and savings accounts paying extremely high rates of interest (e.g., Chime is paying 2% on a traditional savings account). However, these new operators are banks which means that consumers unable or unwilling to participate in the banking system will continue to use GPR cards.
The publisher estimates that U.S. consumers will spend $468 billion with their prepaid debit cards in 2023, up from $377 billion in 2020 and $302 billion in 2016. Another $284 billion will be spent on B2B prepaid cards.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Report Scope
- Report Summary
- Market Size and Forecast
- Growth Opportunity
- Coattails of Pandemic Payment Changes Continue to Affect the Use of Cash
- Digital Channel for Card Acquisition and Purchasing
- Table 1-1. Mobile is the Lead Channel for E-commerce in the US, 2019 - 2022 (percent)
- App-Based Digital Banking Threatens GPR Prepaid Industry
- Broad Characteristics of the Payments Industry
- Pay Before - Prepaid
- Pay Now - Cash and Pin Debit
- Pay Later - Consumer Credit
- Status of Traditional Consumer Payments
- In 2022, Credit Card Outstanding Finally Surpassed Those of 2019
- Longer Term Payment Trends Accelerated
- Figure 1-1. US Citizens Using Cash in a Typical Week, 2015 - 2022 (percent)
- Longer-Term Payment Trends Unabated
- Figure 1-2. Consumers Adopting Payment Cards and Online Payment Accounts, 2016 - 2021 (% share)
- Government GPR Programs
- Figure 1-3. Funds Disbursed Through Government Administered, General Use Prepaid Cards, 2011 - 2021 (billion dollars)
- US Bank’s ReliaCard Mobile App
- Figure 1-4. US Bank ReliaCard Mobile App Examples
- Payroll Cards
- GPR Rewards
- Kroger Rewards Prepaid Debit Card
- The PayPal Prepaid Mastercard
- Serve American Express Prepaid Debit Account
- Prepaid Card Use Trends
- Prepaid Card Marketer and Issuer Strategies
- The Bancorp, Inc.
- Table 1-2. The Bancorp, Inc. Non-Interest Income, 2019 - 2022 (thousand dollars)
- Green Dot Corporation
- Table 1-3. Green Dot Operating Revenue by Segment, 2019 - 2022 (thousand dollars)
- Walmart MoneyCard
- The Bottom Line
- Figure 1-5. Green Dot Consumer Services Segment Revenues, 2021 - 2022 (million dollars)
- Figure 1-6. Green Dot Consumer Services Segment, Active Accounts, 2021 - 2022 (million accounts)
- Figure 1-7. Green Dot Money Movement Services Segment Revenues, 2021 - 2022 (million dollars)
- Pathward Financial
- Prepaid Card Programs
CHAPTER 2: MARKET SIZE AND FORECAST
- US Prepaid Card Market Size and Forecast
- Payment Value to Reach $468 Billion in 2023
- Table 2-1. Market Size, US Prepaid Cards, 2019 - 2023 (billion dollars)
- 2024 Payment Value is Forecasted at $475.3 billion
- Open-Loop and Closed-Look Prepaid Card Market Size, by Card Type
- Table 2-2 US Prepaid Card Market Size by Type, 2023 (billion dollars)
- GROWTH OPPORTUNITY
- Sideways/Down: Consumer General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Cards
- Long-Term Incremental Growth: Gift Cards
- Strong Near-Term/Very Modest Long-Term Growth: Government Prepaid Cards
- Moderate-to-Strong Growth: Healthcare Cards
- Moderate Growth: Payroll Cards
- Strong Growth: B2B Payments
CHAPTER 3: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
- General-Purpose Prepaid Card Spend To Take Discretionary & Non-Discretionary Hit
- Table 3-1. Transaction and Deposit Services, Estimated Fees, and Reported Incidence of Product Use, 2020 - 2021 (billion dollars and % incidence rate)
- Near- and Long-Term: Prepaid Cardholder Cash Preferences to Give Way Slowly
- Table 3-2 Share of Payments Use for In-Person Payments, 2016 - 2021 (percent)
- Near- and Long-Term: In-Store Purchases Pressured and Online Purchases Benefit
- Near- and Long-Term: In-Store Sales Decline
- Near- and Long-Term: Interchange Wins
- Long-Term Winner: Payroll Cards
- Long-Term Loser: Prepaid Tax Refund Cards
- APP-BASED DIGITAL BANKING THREATENS GPR PREPAID INDUSTRY
- The Good: Prepaid Cards Adapt to Digital Banking World
- The Spoiler? Fintech Marketers Undercut on Price and Deliver on Features
- In Focus: Chime
- Potentially and Realistically Free to Use
- Table 3-3. Chime Account Fees, 2023
- Savings Innovation
- The Big Picture
- The Consequences of the Newest Iteration of Neobanks
- In Focus: SoFi
- Figure 3-1. SoFi Mobile App Example
- Multiple Savings Vaults Allow for Multiple Savings Goals
- SoFi’s Banking Charter Fuels BaaS Growth
- SoFi and Samsung
CHAPTER 4: PREPAID CARD USE TRENDS
- Pandemic Prepaid Card Distribution Effect Lingers
- Figure 4-1. “Do You Have Any Reloadable, General Use Prepaid Cards?”, 2023 (% respondents)
- General-Purpose Prepaid Card Use Trends: 2023
- A Note About the Data
- Table 4-1 General-Purpose Prepaid Card Use, 2015 - 2021 (reloadable vs. non-reloadable)
- Lower-Income Adults Remain a Sweet Spot
- Table 4-2. General-Purpose Prepaid Card Use: By Age Bracket and HH Income Bracket, 2015 - 2023 (% of respondents)
CHAPTER 5: GENERAL-PURPOSE RELOADABLE PREPAID CARD FEATURE AND USE RATIONALES
- GENERAL-PURPOSE RELOADABLE PREPAID CARD FEATURES USED
- Table 5-1. General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Features Used, 2020 vs. 2023 (percent of adults using prepaid cards)
- Money Movement and Payment Features: Demographic Analysis
- Table 5-2. General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Payment Features Used by Age, 2023 (% respondents)
- REASONS FOR CHOOSING RELOADABLE PREPAID CARDS
- Customer Service and Online Shopping Drive Card Selection
- Table 5-3. Most Important Features of Prepaid Cards, 2023 (% respondents)
- Influence of Direct Deposit on Card Use
- Table 5-4. Prepaid Card Reload, Monthly Fee, Withdrawal, and Purchase Behavior, 2018, 2020, 2023 (% respondents)
- Table 5-5. Prepaid Card Reload, Monthly Fee, Withdrawal, and Purchase Behavior by Income Bracket, 2020 (% respondents 18-34 years old vs. 35+ years old)
CHAPTER 6: PREPAID CARD MARKETER & ISSUER STRATEGIES
- ISSUER ASSET SIZE DRIVES PREPAID CARD MARKETER CHOICE
- Note: Axos Financial
- PATHWARD
- Meta Bank Rebranded as Pathward
- Pathward Prepaid Card Programs
- Table 6-1 Pathward Financial: General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Program Brands, Managers, and Networks, 2023
- Figure 6-1. H&R Block Emerald Card Example
- The Tax Man Cometh: H&R Block Prepaid Emerald Card and Related Products
- The Emerald Card Leverages Ancillary Products to Grow
- Spruce Mobile Banking Offered Through Pathward
- H&R Block Moving Prepaid Cardholders to its New Banking App, Spruce
- Table 6-2. H&R Block Revenue: Total, Refund Transfer, Emerald Card, and Emerald Advance, 20192022 (million dollars and % change)
- THE BANCORP BANK
- Specialty Lender and Prepaid Card Leader
- Strong 2022 Growth Brings Bancorp to 150 Million Active Cards
- Table 6-3. The Bancorp, Inc. Non-Interest Income, 2019-2022 (thousand dollars)
- Future Growth is Payments and Partners
- Table 6-4. The Bancorp Bank: General-Purpose, Reloadable Prepaid Card Program Brands, Managers,
- Networks, and Card Types, 2022
- But Non-Prepaid Debit Fintech Partnerships Drive Growth
- Table 6-5. The Bancorp Bank: Non-Prepaid Debit Fintech Partnerships by Name, Network Brand, and Launch Date, 2012 - 2022
- Healthcare a Bright Spot
- GREEN DOT CORPORATION
- Figure 6-2. Green Dot Products: Features & Benefits,
- Table 6-6. Green Dot Consumer Product Features and Platform Capabilities, 2022
- Market Segments
- Table 6-7. Green Dot operating Revenue by Segment, 2019 - 2022 (thousand dollars)
- Table 6-8. Green Dot Active Account, Gross Dollar Volume, and Purchase Volume, 2021 - Q3 2022 (million accounts and million dollars)
- Deposit Account Programs
- Key Program Brands
- Table 6-9 Green Dot General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Program Brands and Networks, 2022
- Table 6-10 Green Dot General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Program Management-Only Brands and Networks, 2022
- Key Relationship: Walmart
- The Walmart MoneyCard
- Savings, Budgeting, and Direct Deposit Features
- Key Competitive Threat: Low-Cost App-Based Digital Banking
- Key New Product: Unlimited by Green Dot
- Figure 6-3. Green Dot Unlimited Example
- Key Service: BaaS
- Apple Cash
- Uber
- Intuit
- Wealthfront
- NETSPEND
- Overview
- Table 6-11. Green Dot General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Program Brands and Networks 2023
APPENDIX
- Methodology
- Abbreviations
- Table A-1. Report Abbreviations
- Terms And Definitions
Samples
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Companies Mentioned
- American Express
- Apple
- Axos Financial
- Green Dot Corporation
- Intuit
- Kroger
- Pathward
- PayPal
- Samsung
- SoFi
- The Bancorp, Inc.
- Uber
- US Bank
- Walmart
- Wealthfront
