Prepaid Debit Cards and Low-Income Consumers

Wal-Mart and AmEx in prepaid card deal, By Stephanie Clifford and Jessica Siver-Greenberg, October 8, 2012, New York Times: “Wal-Mart Stores is taking another leap into the banking world, announcing on Monday a prepaid card and debit account with American Express that will give low-income consumers access to features like smartphone deposits. It is a surprising alliance between the discounter Wal-Mart and American Express, which until recently has been focused on high-end consumers. The move is intended to strengthen both companies’ position in the prepaid card market — which, unlike credit and debit cards, is largely unregulated and has far fewer consumer protections…”