Payment News

Prepaid Debit Cards Rush Ahead

The latest Federal Reserve Payments Study shows an annual 6.2% increase in the number of card payments between 2018 and 2021. Behind that figure there are fluctuations, a fall in 2020 being offset by a rise in 2021, for example. In 2021 the growth in payments using prepaid debit cards was exceptional, all be it from a lower base than the others. In 2020 only 10% of payment transactions were made by pre-paid cards.

The Atlanta Fed, who wrote about this in a blog, does not speculate but one has to wonder about drivers such as the rise of people wanting to participate in ecommerce driving this change. If it had been 2022, we might be thinking about budgeting in difficult economic conditions.