CFSICFSI

Topics  |  Prepaid Cards

Research Papers

Highlights from the 4th Annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum

The Underbanked Financial Services Forum has become a bellwether for the industry serving the underbanked. Judging by this year’s Fourth Annual Forum, presented by SourceMedia with the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), the industry is strong. Despite challenging times for the ...

21 pp.   
Posted: August 2009

One Size Does Not Fit All: A Comparison of Monthly Financial Services Spending

by Rachel Schneider

The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) has conducted an investigation into the amounts that prepaid cardholders spend each month to conduct essential financial transactions, and compared that to the amounts that they would spend if they remained underbanked or used checking ...

Posted: June 2009

A Tool for Getting by or Getting Ahead? Consumers’ Views on Prepaid Cards

by Sarah Gordon, Jennifer Romich, Eric Waithaka

Over the past decade, financial services companies have offered an increasing number of options to households who do not hold or regularly use conventional checking and savings accounts. Some options come from mainstream banks and companies, while others come from “fringe” financial ...

Posted: April 2009

Results of the NBPCA/CFSI Survey:

Network Branded Prepaid Card Association and CFSI release new data on prepaid card usage and underbanked consumers.  The data delivers results from a survey of 400 underbanked prepaid card users and offers information on consumer satisfaction levels, card usage, rankings of ...

Posted: April 2009

The Industry Forecast for Prepaid Cards, 2009

by Rachel Schneider

More than one-third of the 40 million underbanked individuals in the United States would rather use a prepaid card than a checking account for basic financial transactions if costs were equal. Underbanked consumers say they appreciate the convenience, transparency, and privacy of ...

Posted: March 2009

Prepaid Cards vs. Checking Accounts inBrief

by Michael J. Herrmann

Inform your underbanked strategy with the Prepaid Cards vs. Checking Accounts inBrief and take advantage of this newly released segmentation data.  Do you want to bring more underbanked consumers into deeper financial relationships with your institution/organization? Then, you should read this inBrief ...

Posted: September 2008

Innovation Trends in Financial Services to the Underbanked

by Michael J. Herrmann, Arjan Schütte, and Rachel Schneider
Significant discussion about underbanked consumers and the market opportunity they represent has occurred over the past several years. To meet this market opportunity, a number of startup companies have materialized with innovative products and services. CFSI has evaluated some of these ...
16 pp.   
Posted: March 4, 2008

Nonprofit Distribution of Prepaid Cards

by Michael J. Herrmann and Rachel Schneider
This report explores experimentation in nonprofit distribution and marketing of prepaid debit cards to underbanked consumers. We focus on three community organizations to discover the potential role for such groups in distributing financial services.
 
Community organizations play a critical role in the lives ...
17 pp.   
Posted: March 4, 2008

Cardholder Use of General Spending Prepaid Cards: A Closer Look at the Market

by Sherrie Rhine, Katy Jacob, Yazmin Osaki and Jennifer Tescher

Branded reloadable general spending cards are gaining traction with consumer groups making the prepaid card market one of the fastest changing segments of the financial services industry. The recent entry of general spending card providers to the marketplace and the proprietary nature ...

22 pp.   
Posted: February 2007

Distributing Prepaid Cards Through Worker Centers: A Gateway to Asset Building for Low-Income Households

by Katy Jacob, Janice Fine and Lauren Leimbach
A collaborative pilot program between the Center for Community Change and the Center for Financial Resources has been established to engage worker centers as a primary point-of-access to pre-paid cards for immigrant workers. The model is based on a recent survey of ...
Posted: October 31, 2006

From the Margins to the Mainstream: A Guide to Building Products and Strategies for Underbanked Markets (for chapter links, see below)

The Retail Financial Services Initiative (RFSI) is a three-year project organized by NCIF that seeks to increase the quantity and quality of financial services for unbanked and low- to moderate-income consumers. Starting in October 2003, a group of banks and credit unions ...
Posted: November 11, 2005

Stored Value Cards: Challenges and Opportunities for Reaching Emerging Markets

by Katy Jacob, Sabrina Su, Sherrie Rhine and Jennifer Tescher
This paper discusses the implications of stored value cards (SVCs) for unbanked and underbanked consumers, explores the hypothesis that SVCs can offer consumers the potential to build assets and improve their credit records, and presents policy issues that may affect how the ...
32 pp.   
Posted: April 2005

Stored Value Cards: A Scan of Current Trends and Future Opportunities

by Katy Jacob
Discusses the potential that stored value cards (SVCs) have to serve as cash and check alternatives for otherwise underbanked consumers. Provides insight into important industry innovations and trends, including pricing, marketing, remittance features, bill payment, consumer protections, future savings options, rewards features ...
18 pp.   
Posted: July 2004

Press Releases

Network Branded Prepaid Card Association and The Center for Financial Services Innovation Release New Data on Prepaid Card Usage and Underbanked Consumers

The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA), a non-profit, inter-industry trade association created to advance the success of branded prepaid cards, (cards usable wherever American Express, Discover, MasterCard or Visa cards are accepted), and the Center for Financial Services Innovation, a non-profit ...

Posted: April 2009

Prepaid Card Webinar

in Prepaid Cards
July 18, 2007
Most banks and credit unions turn away thousands of people each month who walk into their lobby to open a checking or savings account. Many may also be turning away credit card applicants and cashing thousands of on-us checks to non-account holders. ...

Prepaid Cards Fact Sheet

Posted: June 2007