Green Dot Checking Accounts Are Coming

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Prepaid card provider Green Dot (Stock Quote: GDOT) is looking to offer traditional checking accounts later this year.

“Our goal is to show it to the public markets in late July, but there’s a lot of risk going in,” Green Dot CEO Steve Streit told MainStreet. “Research has to be done. Regulators have to be supportive. All that needs to be done [before the product is launched].”

Just as with the company’s prepaid products, the checking accounts would be marketed to consumers who make less than $75,000 a year. Streit didn’t offer any other details, but did say the goal was to design a checking account that diverges from the ones currently being offered by major financial institutions.

“We want to make the product compelling and unique, and at the same time clearly differentiate it,” he said.

Green Dot’s plans for a checking account come at a time when its competition within the prepaid debit card market is heating up. Earlier this year, Suze Orman launched a low-fee card that provides its users with credit monitoring services furnished by TransUnion, and major issuers such as American Express (Stock Quote: AXP) and Capital One (Stock Quote: COF) added low-fee prepaid cards to their arsenals in 2011.

Streit said the added competition isn’t going to lead to any major changes in Green Dot’s core prepaid products.

“Competition is inevitable, but it is also fueling growth in the industry,” Streit said. “Our goal is to have low fees, few fees and transparent fees.”

What’s contributing to the surge in the prepaid debit card market? Find out in MainStreet’s look at the best prepaid debit cards on the market.

—Jeanine Skowronski is staff reporter for MainStreet. You can reach her by email at Skowronski.jeanine@thestreet.com, or follow her on Twitter at @JeanineSko.