http://www.pymnts.com/home/ http://www.pymnts.com/briefingroom/prepaid-2/prepaid/prepaid-s-chance-to-change-the-world/#PageComment_80007 Think of checking into a hotel or renting a car as activities that have been transformed by the credit card. If you can't get a credit card you need some convenient way to engage in these and other activities that are no longer available to the unbanked.

The unbanked need the prepaid card to participate in the modern world.

The key issue is whether prepaid card providers will chose to make a good living providing this valuable service at a fair price or indulge their greed by taking advantage of the credulity of the unbanked to take unwarranted profits. Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:12:02 -0600 Scott Harrison http://www.pymnts.com/briefingroom/prepaid-2/prepaid/prepaid-s-chance-to-change-the-world/#PageComment_80007 http://www.pymnts.com/briefingroom/prepaid-2/prepaid/prepaid-s-chance-to-change-the-world/#PageComment_76795 I'm not sure whether or not I saw mention in this of the organisations I expect to deliver value to the greatest number of at present unbanked consumers and generate the most significant increase in transaction volume to the global card networks. These are the companies that sell GPR cards with an invisible bank account to consumers who have never used banks but want the convenience and security of a deposit relationship with card access to funds. This is a global phenomenon involving huge numbers of underserved consumers.
Sat, 30 Jul 2011 19:44:52 -0500 Scott Harrison http://www.pymnts.com/briefingroom/prepaid-2/prepaid/prepaid-s-chance-to-change-the-world/#PageComment_76795 http://www.pymnts.com/briefingroom/prepaid-2/prepaid/prepaid-s-chance-to-change-the-world/#PageComment_76756 Tim, great insights, as always. At Citi we talked about prepaid and mostly ignored it on the retail side, but did some great B2B stuff with prepaid. I think prepaid is great, people like to segment their monies and this is a key tool for segmentation beyond the under-banked. Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:29:35 -0500 Dion Lisle http://www.pymnts.com/briefingroom/prepaid-2/prepaid/prepaid-s-chance-to-change-the-world/#PageComment_76756 http://www.pymnts.com/briefingroom/prepaid-2/prepaid/prepaid-s-chance-to-change-the-world/#PageComment_76755 The juice of this article is in the final two paragraphs -- the banks are the biggest question-mark and the biggest problem. Sitting on their heads are the regulators who mandate slow growth and excessive wariness of third-party risk; and who are ill-prepared for the type of financial innovation that GPR prepaid debit is able to provide. Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:46:56 -0500 Chuck Phipps, AAP, CTP http://www.pymnts.com/briefingroom/prepaid-2/prepaid/prepaid-s-chance-to-change-the-world/#PageComment_76755 http://www.pymnts.com/briefingroom/prepaid-2/prepaid/prepaid-s-chance-to-change-the-world/#PageComment_76731 Great article and in addition you should know that companies like bux.com give the GPR consumer the ability to use their funds with their cell phone. The e-wallet is no longer for banked consumers only, furthermore a bux.com account holder is now able to pay bills, top up a wireless phone, buy gift cards and transfer money for $1.00. Bux.com is not only convenient it is socially conscious, keeping money in the pocket of consumers who need it most! Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:02:53 -0500 Pierre Saez http://www.pymnts.com/briefingroom/prepaid-2/prepaid/prepaid-s-chance-to-change-the-world/#PageComment_76731 http://www.pymnts.com/briefingroom/prepaid-2/prepaid/prepaid-s-chance-to-change-the-world/#PageComment_76730 Do you think prepaid will be affected by the Fed's definition under Durbin that prepaids cannot be exempt from the Durbin interchange rules unless they forego transaction account features such as ACH transactions, checks or overdraft services? Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:56:10 -0500 Bob Giltner http://www.pymnts.com/briefingroom/prepaid-2/prepaid/prepaid-s-chance-to-change-the-world/#PageComment_76730