Prepaid cards

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed further changes Thursday to its final rule on prepaid cards and is seeking public comment on whether to delay implementing it a second time.

Fintech is full of payments technology ideas in search of a mission, and Wholesome Wave, whose mission is to improve low-income consumers’ nutrition, has searched for years to find a better way to reimburse its constituents for buying healthy food.

Consumers who use person-to-person payment apps are twice as likely to hold a prepaid card, but the two payment methods are not always interchangeable.

Netspend is focusing on "overlooked and emerging segments" to expand its prepaid card services, according to company president Chuck Harris. And it's making some very unconventional alliances along the way.

Gift card marketplace provider Raise is launching a mobile wallet for gift cards to turn them into somewhat of an alternative currency.

Unlike some other family spending tools in which parents dictate what their children can spend on prepaid cards, Malauzai Software and payment technology provider Vantiv are delivering an application that encourages users to let the child decide what to spend.

Republican leaders acknowledged that they will not be able to use the Congressional Review Act to overturn the CFPB's prepaid card rule.

The Pasadena, Calif., firm also reported growth in the number of active prepaid cards for the first time since the second quarter of 2015. Profits rose by 24%.

When American Express debuted its Bluebird prepaid card in Walmart stores nearly five years ago, it was a sharp detour from the card brand's status as a product for the elite. But rather than bridge these two worlds, the Bluebird card has kept its market walled off.

Walmart adjusted two of its long-standing, in-house offerings this week, saying it was lowering the rates for its domestic Walmart2Walmart money transfer service and adding a digital money transfer service with Bluebird2Walmart.