Prepaid Resources, LLC

Like it or not, one of the popular uses for prepaid debit cards in the United States is to transfer funds to and from offshore Internet gambling sites. Those transfers may be coming to an end, as the date of enforcement of Federal Regulations prohibiting the transfer of funds to illegal Internet gaming sites went into force on June 1, 2010.

On December 17, 2010, Senator Menendez introduced S.4041 – “A bill to amend the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to provide protection for consumers who have prepaid cards, and for other purposes.” The bill is referred to as the “Prepaid Card Consumer Protection Act of 2010” and would amend the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to provide for greater regulation of certain prepaid cards (referred to in the bill as “spending card accounts”).

Hispanics are a large demographic in the U.S. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Hispanics make up approximately 16.3% of the U.S. population, with over 50 Million Hispanics in the U.S. The Hispanic market is an important one for many prepaid debit card issuers, as studies have shown that nearly 20% of Hispanics are unbanked.

On August 12, 2010, Green Dot Corporation (NYSE:GDOT) had its first earnings conference call. The conference call, of course, included lots of discussion about Green Dot’s second quarter 2010 earnings and outlook. The call also included some excellent information about the prepaid debit card industry. Analysts, investors and others who are interested in covering or better understanding this relatively new industry should listen to the Green Dot Q2 earnings call.

enable load and reload functionality at participating ATM and POS locations. The expanded transaction set includes activation, load/reload and split tender purchases – with PIN-security and the associated reduction in fraud built in. The new STAR RELOAD service icon denoting load/reload card capabilities will be displayed with the STAR brand on participating cards, merchant point-of-sale and ATM locations.