Prepaid cards have increased 15.9% per year from 2009 to 2012. This is the fastest growth rate among all types of payments.
While prepaid card usage exploded, the estimated number of checks paid went from 41.9 billion in 2000 to 18.3 billion in 2012.
Debit cards are now the most common form of payment surpassing checks, credit cards and even cash.
Federal Reserve publishes a Payment Study tri-annually. The next study should be available in 2017.