Prepaid Cards in the US, 8th Edition

Prepaid Cards in the US, 8th Edition


Prepaid Debit Card Use and Trends


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 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.

De Novo Banks and Card Issuers


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. Packaged Facts surveys have found that bank account fees are anathema to GPR cardholders so these fee-free pitches may well resonate with them.

For fintechs 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 consumer unable or unwilling to participate in the banking system will continue to use GPR cards.

Consumer Spend Prepaid Debit Cards in 2023


Packaged Facts 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.

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.

Report Scope
This report covers trends shaping the prepaid card market. For the purposes of this report, prepaid cards include closed-loop and open-loop (general use) iterations. The report does not cover non-prepaid products like debit cards.


  • Executive Summary
    • Report Scope
    • Report Summary
      • Market Size and Forecast
      • Coattails of Pandemic Payment Changes Continue to Affect the Use of Cash
      • Digital Channel for Card Acquisition and Purchasing
        • Table 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
      • Status of Traditional Consumer Payments
      • Longer-Term Payment Trends Unabated
      • Government GPR Programs
      • US Bank's ReliaCard Mobile App
      • Payroll Cards
      • GPR Rewards
      • Prepaid Card Use Trends
      • Prepaid Card Marketer and Issuer Strategies
        • Table The Bancorp, Inc. Non-Interest Income, 2019 – 2022 (thousand dollars)
        • Table Green Dot Operating Revenue by Segment, 2019 – 2022 (thousand dollars)
      • The Bottom Line
      • Prepaid Card Programs
  • Market Size and Forecast
    • US Prepaid Card Market Size and Forecast
      • Payment Value to Reach $468 Billion in 2023
        • Table Market Size, US Prepaid Cards, 2019 – 2023 (billion dollars)
      • 2024 Payment Value Forecasted at $475.3 billion
      • Open-Loop and Closed-Look Prepaid Card Market Size, by Card Type
        • Table 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
  • Challenges and Opportunities
    • General-Purpose Prepaid Card Spend to Take Discretionary & Non-Discretionary Hit
      • Table 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 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
        • Table Chime Account Fees, 2023
      • The Consequences of Newest Iteration of Neobanks
      • In Focus: SoFi
  • Prepaid Card Use Trends
    • Pandemic Prepaid Card Distribution Effect Lingers
    • General-Purpose Prepaid Card Use Trends: 2023
      • Table General-Purpose Prepaid Card Use, 2015 – 2021 (reloadable vs. non-reloadable)
      • Lower-Income Adults Remain a Sweet Spot
        • Table General-Purpose Prepaid Card Use: By Age Bracket and HH Income Bracket, 2015 – 2023 (% of respondents)
  • General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Feature and Use Rationales
    • General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Features Used
      • Table General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Features Used, 2020 vs. 2023 (percent of adults using prepaid cards)
      • Money Movement and Payment Features: Demographic Analysis
        • Table 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 Most Important Features of Prepaid Cards, 2023 (% respondents)
      • Influence of Direct Deposit on Card Use
        • Table Prepaid Card Reload, Monthly Fee, Withdrawal, and Purchase Behavior, 2018, 2020, 2023 (% respondents)
        • Table Prepaid Card Reload, Monthly Fee, Withdrawal, and Purchase Behavior by Income Bracket, 2020 (% respondents 18-34 years old vs. 35+ years old)
  • 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 Pathward Financial: General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Program Brands, Managers, and Networks, 2023
      • The Tax Man Cometh: H&R Block Prepaid Emerald Card and Related Products
      • The Emerald Card Leverages Ancillary Products to Grow
      • H&R Block Moving Prepaid Cardholders to its New Banking App, Spruce
        • Table H&R Block Revenue: Total, Refund Transfer, Emerald Card, and Emerald Advance, 2019-2022 (million dollars and % change)
    • The Bancorp Bank
      • Specialty Lender and Prepaid Card Leader
      • Strong 2022 Growth Bring Bancorp to 150 Million Active Cards
        • Table The Bancorp, Inc. Non-Interest Income, 2019-2022 (thousand dollars)
      • Future Growth is Payments and Partners
        • Table 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 The Bancorp Bank: Non-Prepaid Debit Fintech Partnerships by Name, Network Brand, and Launch Date, 2012 – 2022
      • Healthcare a Bright Spot
    • Green Dot Corporation
      • Table Green Dot Consumer Product Features and Platform Capabilities, 2022
      • Market Segments
        • Table Green Dot operating Revenue by Segment, 2019 – 2022 (thousand dollars)
        • Table 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 Green Dot General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Program Brands and Networks, 2022
        • Table Green Dot General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Program Management-Only Brands and Networks, 2022
      • The Walmart MoneyCard
      • Key Competitive Threat: Low-Cost App-Based Digital Banking
      • Key New Product: Unlimited by Green Dot
      • Key Service: BaaS
    • Netspend
      • Overview
        • Table Green Dot General-Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Card Program Brands and Networks 2023
  • Appendix
    • Methodology
    • Abbreviations
      • Table Report Abbreviations
    • Terms and Definitions

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