Prepaid Card Usage Surges Among 'Self-Banked'

March 8, 2010

NetSpend, a leading provider of prepaid, reloadable debit cards, says its customers loaded $1.04 billion onto their NetSpend prepaid cards last month, surpassing all previous company and industry records.

Most of the money loaded onto cards came through employer and government Direct Deposit programs. In a statement to the press, the company said they see the $1 billion milestone as indicative of "the trust customers place in NetSpend as they look to the card as an alternative form of banking rather than a simple alternative to paying with cash."

NetSpend describes its customers as "self banked," and says its MasterCard- and Visa-branded prepaid card programs are the most feature rich on the market. Features include free Direct Deposit, free card-to-card money transfers, more than 90,000 reload locations nationwide.

"The continued increase in volume is clear evidence that more and more consumers in this country are embracing the convenience and value of NetSpend's self-banking solution," said Dan Henry, NetSpend CEO.

"We believe we are more effective than our competition when it comes to banking the unbanked. Empowering these consumers with the convenience, security and freedom of being 'self-banked' is the mission that motivates" NetSpend, he added.

Governments worldwide make regular payments to more than 170 million poor people (G2P payments)