"It’s clear that prepaid debit cards—cards that you load with cash, spend down and then reload — are hot.

In 2009, consumers loaded roughly $29 billion on such cards, which are especially popular with young adults and those considered underbanked — meaning they have little access to mainstream financial institutions like banks. But by next year, that amount is expected to reach $202 billion, according to an estimate cited in a report from an arm of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Even the budgeting guru Suze Orman is marketing a prepaid card.

So to gain insight into why consumers are using the cards, researchers from Pew’s Safe Checking in the Electronic Age project convened focus groups last fall in Houston and Chicago."

Read the full article at nytimes.com.