These days, prepaid cards are finding their way into the hands of a broad segment of the consumer population - spanning both unbanked consumers, who are traditionally thought of as the majority of prepaid card users, and, now more than ever, banked consumers. The questions remain, how do these two groups differ in their spending behaviors? Why are banked consumers using prepaid cards in droves?

The Unbanked and Prepaid Cards: Spending Habits

The unbanked demographic, for the most part, uses prepaid cards for their everyday purchases. Many of Ecount's unbanked cardholders have their paychecks deposited directly to their cards and use their cards much like a bank account.

The primary unbanked spending categories (in gross dollars spent) include:

In addition to basic spending, these unbanked consumers are using prepaid cards to pay household expenses electronically with phone, cable and utility payments accounting for nearly 4% of all expenditures (3.83%).

The banked demographic, has found a number of uses for prepaid cards in their daily lives. A large number of Ecount cardholders use prepaid cards as business accounts (for small office and home office), buying products from vendors and paying business-related expenses - these account for more than 40% of all activity on the cards. The remaining 60% of utilization among the banked demographic, is broken up between luxury purchases (e.g. high-ticket electronics and travel) and daily purchases (e.g. grocery stores).

The primary banked spending categories (in gross dollars) include:

Big ticket items abound in the banked spending reports. The average expense at electronics stores for banked consumers is $200.87, compared to $74.33 for unbanked consumers, for example. The average expense at a motorcycle dealer is $836.55 for the banked, versus $249.50 for the unbanked. Travel expenses account for more than 8% of banked spending, compared to less than 1% for the unbanked.

The banked population has taken prepaid cards and successfully used them as a core or supplemental account. Whether used for running a personal business, saving for large ticket items or budgeting their discretionary income, this demographic has helped to rapidly evolve the perception of what a prepaid card can be used for.

"Prepaid cards have found great utility among every sector of the population," said Matt Gillin, CEO of Ecount. "The ability to have a pre-funded card, with the security of Visa(R) and convenience of universal acceptance is desired by all types of consumers and businesses - whether they are used for traveling, paying the cable bill or managing a small business. Ecount prepaid cards have found value in the wallets of millions of both banked and unbanked consumers and we are excited to experience this continued growth in the marketplace."