A survey sponsored by Market Rates Insight, a financial services research firm, has found that middle and upper income consumers are open to using prepaid cards if their financial institutions provided them.

Conventional wisdom has held that lower income consumers without deposit accounts have been most open to the cards.

“Expect prepaid reloadable cards to become the norm in the future.” said Dan Geller, executive vice president at Market Rates Insight in San Anselmo, Calif., “the research clearly shows that baby boomers, who are the largest segment of the U.S. population, are likely to adopt prepaid cards as their main payment method.”

The firm's research found that 47.1% of existing bank customers and credit union members are likely to use prepaid reloadable cards if offered by their financial institution. Consumers also indicated willingness to pay an average of $4.21 per month for the use of the prepaid card.

The study also found that among consumers who are likely to use prepaid cards, 36.7% earn between $35,000 and $65,000 per year; 22.1% earn between $66,000 and $100,000 a year; and 14.8% earn over $100,000 per year.

Another axiom that the survey challenged concerned the age of prepaid card users. Conventional wisdom has held they are most popular among the young, but the study found that 42.3% of consumers likely to use prepaid cards are baby boomers ranging in age between 47 and 66 years old.

The prepaid card findings came from a larger consumer research study conducted during April 2012, and released this week, which found that 67.1% of consumers are likely to use services such as credit score reporting services, identity theft alert services, mobile deposit services, person-to-person payment services, personalized couponing services, overdraft transfer services, and prepaid reloadable card services if offered by their financial institution.

Instant Insights /

Survey Suggests Prepaid Cards Not Just for Lower Income

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