Prepaid card usage tipped to surge
Trends in consumer spending indicate that 2015 will be the year of the ‘prepaid economy’, according to financial industry experts, as consumers increasingly reject credit cards, seek greater protection from online fraud and switch to new ways to access services such as public transport.
New figures show that UK has seen an explosion in the number of prepaid card products available to consumers, from 50 in 2007 to over 240 currently on offer. The Prepaid International Forum (PIF – the trade association that represents the prepaid card industry) also reports that with this growth in availability of prepaid products is driving greater regular use of prepaid cards to pay for goods and services.
These payment cards can be used very much in the same way as normal credit or debit cards, but are preferred by a growing number of people because they carry a pre-loaded, set amount of money rather than accessing money directly from a person’s bank account or running up credit card bills.