While mainstream financial institutions previously shunned people without checking accounts, that demographic is now among the industry's most coveted customers, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The latest example of the shift came yesterday when American Express Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. rolled out a prepaid card aimed at tens of millions of middle-class and lower-income Americans eager to avoid fees charged by banks. The Bluebird card, stamped with AmEx's familiar blue and white logo, will be sold online and at the retail giant's 3,925 U.S. stores, marking an expansion of Wal-Mart's longtime efforts to muscle into financial services. For AmEx, Bluebird is yet another turn away from the company's roots pitching high-end charge cards and credit cards to affluent consumers. The top 50 issuers of prepaid cards rang up $79.9 billion worth of purchases last year, up 25 percent from $64.1 billion in 2010, according to the Nilson Report, a Carpinteria, Calif.-based newsletter.
