Prepaid Cards: United States

This report forecasts to 2025 the US market for prepaid cards in nominal US dollars. The total market is segmented by payment process as follows: open-loop and closed-loop.

To illustrate historical trends, the total market and the various segments are provided for 2019-2024.

Open-loop types include: government-administered, general purpose reloadable, healthcare, payroll, and gift cards. Closed-loop types encompass: government, healthcare, payroll, refund and incentive, and gift cards.

This report covers trends shaping the prepaid card market. For the purposes of this report, prepaid cards include closed-loop and open-loop (general use) iterations. The report does not cover non-prepaid products like debit cards.

A prepaid card is a card that stores or records a dollar value. It is not linked to a bank account. The card has no value until it is purchased and “loaded” with an amount of money. When the card is used to make a purchase or to withdraw funds via an ATM, the amounts are subtracted from the card’s balance. When the balance reaches zero, the card is empty.

Some cards are “reloadable” – money may be loaded to the card at certain stores, online, or by direct deposit. Other cards are “non-reloadable” – when the balance reaches zero, the card remains empty and can be discarded.

Prepaid cards are also distinguished by whether they are “closed-loop” or “open-loop” cards. Closed-loop cards can be used only at specific locations operated by a merchant or other entity. Merchant-specific gift cards and customer refund and incentive cards are two such examples. Both are generally non-reloadable. However, some merchant-specific gift cards such as the My Starbucks Rewards card, are reloadable. Electronic benefits transfer cards are also closed-loop prepaid cards reloadable only via added benefits disbursements.

Other various topics, including profiles of pertinent leading companies, are covered in this report. A full outline of report items by page is available in the Table of Contents.

Related NAICS Codes:

• 522210 Credit Card Issuing
• 522220 Sales Financing
• 522292 Real Estate Credit
• 522293 International Trade Financing
• 522294 Secondary Market Financing
• 522298 All Other Nondepository Credit Intermediation
• 522320 Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities