CardHub.com has released its 2013 Prepaid Card Report, which evaluates the alternative banking market and identifies the pepaid cards that best — and most economically — meet consumer needs.

Prepaid cards continue to gain popularity; card deposits nearly tripled from 2008 to 2012, according to Mercator Advisory Group, and they are expected to rise an additional 120 percent by 2015, to $168.4 billion.

Following are key findings from the CardHub 2013 Prepaid Card Report:

• the annual cost of prepaid card use ranges from $0 to $360;
• the average cost of a card used as an alternative checking account is down 46 percent compared to 2012, however, cards used as check-cashing tools are 9 percent more expensive;
• prepaid cards of large banks are up to 200 percent more affordable than those of smaller FIs;
• celebrity-founded/endorsed cards are 17 to 36 percent more expensive than non-branded prepaids;
• as many as 62 percent of prepaid card offers lack the features (e.g., online bill pay, free check-loading) needed to meet basic consumer needs; and
• the average prepaid card charges 10 different fees.

According to the report, best and worst cards were as follows:

• the best checking account alternatives are the Green Dot Gold Visa, the Bluebird Card from Walmart and American Express, and the American Express Serve card;
• the worst checking account alternative is the Account Now Visa Classic card;
• the best replacement check-cashing tools are the Chase Liquid card and the PNC Smart Access prepaid card;
• the worst replacement check-cashing tool is the Account Now Gold Visa;
• the best access to electronic transactions is offered by the BB&T MoneyAccount card; and
• the worst access to electronic transactions is provided by Green Dot Gold Visa.

"While prepaid cards were a relative unknown to most consumers just a few years ago, it's safe to say they are no longer on the periphery of personal finance," said Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of CardHub. "But it wasn't until the Durbin Amendment eliminated nearly $8.4 billion in annual revenue for banks by capping debit card swipe fees that these products really took off.

"Consumers now have myriad different prepaid card options to choose from, and while the right card can indeed outperform more traditional banking services for certain consumer segments, the wrong one can cost you a great deal in terms of money and functionality," he said.

See the full report.