Similarly, banks are expected to push consumers to replace their debit cards and checking accounts with prepaid cards.
Mobile payments use a mobile device and various payment tools including bank instruments such as checking and prepaid accounts.
Cingular and other mobile providers got slapped with a patent lawsuit over "prepaid" accounts, which aren't anything more complex than purchasing a certain amount of cellphone minutes in advance and drawing from them over time, as opposed to going in for a regular per-month subscription allotment it's not too prevalent here in the States but is much bigger overseas.
ENGADGET: Mobile carriers lose patent suit on prepaid calling plans
About 43% of all mobile accounts worldwide are of the prepaid variety.
It's going to be particularly quick to catch on in those parts of the world where prepaid cell phone accounts are the norm and people are already comfortable with the notion of handing cash to a merchant and getting nothing but an electronic blip in return.
One way they are doing this is by offering not the usual service, where users talk and pay the balance of their accounts in arrears, but a prepaid, discounted package.
The IRS doesn't require refunds to be deposited to accounts in the names of filers, so criminals have them sent to their own accounts and, increasingly, to prepaid debit cards that have nothing tied to them.
Federal deposit account insurance for prepaid cards applies differently than i does for bank accounts and may be capped at less than the value of all of the prepaid cards issued by a particular card program.
FORBES: Walmart Targets Unhappy Bank Customers With New Prepaid Card--Should Big Banks Be Nervous?
It is low-cost and does more than the average general purpose (GPR) prepaid card (like sub-accounts, and roadside and purchase protection).
In the U.S., gamers can load their Rixty accounts via Coinstar marchines, MoneyPak, and Rixty prepaid cards.
Created in partnership with Cincinnati-based Unifund Corporation, the Prepaid Visa RushCard offers people without bank accounts a credit-limit-free card that lets them access paychecks days early and gives benefits like prescription discounts.
The thieves plundered funds held by the banks that back up prepaid credit cards, not individual or business accounts, Lynch said.
Thus, they stand to be lucrative for issuers and relatively inexpensive for consumers, a fact made particularly important given that prepaid cards can provide the exact same services to consumers as regular checking accounts, with the lone exception of physical check writing capabilities.
About one-third of these payments are through credit, debit or prepaid cards already owned by customers, followed by payments directly from customers bank accounts.
FORBES: Will Visa And MasterCard Capitalize On Mobile Wallet Technology?
应用推荐