Sub-Prime cards are issued to individuals that may experience difficulty in opening a bank account or credit card account due to status or previous debt problems.
Sub-prime cards are also a cost-efficient method for banks to service the sub-prime sector and manage accounts with a low volume or value of transactions. As the cards may only be used to spend pre-loaded funds they offer a zero-risk and low cost solution to the issue of managing a sector that is difficult to service via traditional core banking services.