Prepaid Cards: United States

Prepaid Cards: United States

This report forecasts the US market for prepaid cards in nominal US dollars for 2021-2024. The total market is segmented by payment process as follows: open-loop and closed-loop. The process segments are further segmented by type for 2016-2020. Open-loop types include: consumer general-purpose reloadable, business-to-business (B2B), government-administered, flexible spending account/health savings account (FSA/HSA) medical card, payroll card, gift card, and customer refund and incentive card. Closed-loop types encompass: electronic benefit transfer, reloadable, and non-reloadable.

To illustrate historical trends, the total market and the various segments are provided in annual series from 2016 to 2020.

A prepaid card is a card that stores or records a dollar value and is not linked to a bank account. The card has no value until it is purchased and ""loaded' with an amount of money. When the card is used to make a purchase or to withdraw funds via an automated teller machine (ATM), the amounts are subtracted from the card's balance. When the balance reaches zero, the card is empty.

Some cards are ""reloadable"" – money may be loaded to the card at certain stores, online, or by direct deposit. Other cards are ""non-reloadable"" – when the balance reaches zero, the card remains empty and can be discarded.

Prepaid cards are also distinguished by whether they are ""closed-loop"" or ""open-loop"" cards. Closed-loop cards can be used only at specific locations operated by a merchant or other entity. Distinguished by their association with a card network, open-loop prepaid cards can be used to make purchases anywhere that card network's payment cards are accepted.

Other various topics, including profiles of pertinent leading companies, are covered in this report. A full outline of report items by page is available in the Table of Contents.

Related NAICS Codes:
522210 Credit Card Issuing
522220 Sales Financing
522292 Real Estate Credit
522293 International Trade Financing
522294 Secondary Market Financing
522298 All Other Nondepository Credit Intermediation
522320 Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities