U.S. Stimulus Payments: Another Proving Ground for Prepaid Cards

With 140 million entitled U.S. citizens allocated $239 billion in stimulus funds, checks and ACH payments filled the need for most. For 3.6 million people without payment information on file, prepaid cards were a lifeline with $5.42 billion in economic relief. MetaBank distributed the Visa general purpose prepaid cards, Fiserv’s Money Network enabled ATM acceptance. Except for one notable issue, the process worked without a hitch.