Report

How are U.S. consumers using general purpose reloadable prepaid cards?: are they being used as substitutes for checking accounts?

Abstract: Owners of general purpose reloadable prepaid cards (GPR) who do not have checking accounts comprise 4.8 percent of U.S. adults, according to the 2012 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice. This report explores two important aspects of prepaid card use: Do owners of GPR prepaid cards who lack checking accounts use these cards differently than those who have checking accounts? Are these cards substituting for payment services that have traditionally been provided only via traditional checking accounts?

Keywords: Diary of Consumer Payment Choice; prepaid cards; Survey of Consumer Payment Choice; nonbank payment services; bank‐like services;

JEL Classification: G23;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Part of Series: Research Data Report

Publication Date: 2015-06-01

Number: 15-3

Pages: 17 pages