Prepaid cards

Attempts to legislate or regulate innovative payments treat consumers, who have affirmatively selected to use prepaid accounts or some other emerging access device to access their money, much differently than consumers who have decided to open a traditional bank account with an associated debit card, writes Brian Tate, president and CEO of the NBPCA.

The graveyard of defunct all-in-one startups includes companies like Coin, Swyp, Stratos and Plastc. But whenever one of these companies failed, its technology simply moved on to a new owner.

Companies of all sizes have attempted to serve kids and teens with prepaid cards or digital wallets with parental controls, but there are very few success stories. GoSave's twist is that it doesn't make a card or an app the focus of its experience.

Toronto-based Mint Corp. is taking advantage of the UAE government’s ambitious plans to develop a digital, cashless society.

Mobile and digital technology are expanding use cases for reloadable prepaid cards beyond their heritage as a tool primarily for the unbanked consumers. Furthermore, mobile commerce is driving broader acceptance of digital versions of both prepaid and retail gift cards.

Consumers using Paysafe's prepaid cards can now make online purchases in the Google Play store as part of a partnership with Google.

Comdata has been processing corporate payments for almost 50 years, paying truck drivers through a proprietary fuel card network. But its next chapter could be its toughest.

Success stories about teen-focused payment cards are relatively few, despite steady improvements in technology to give kids a measure of independence in their spending while parents hold the purse strings via shared apps.

Dan Henry, former CEO of Netspend, was elected chairman of the board at 3PEA International, a prepaid card program provider and processor.

Behavioral data about Hispanics’ use of digital payments is scarce, but the sector as a whole spends more than $1.4 trillion annually and its population growth rate significantly outpaces the mainstream, based on U.S. Census Bureau data.