Glossario

A payment instrument on which the cardholder loads a sum, which is an amount prepaid to the issuer; each time it is used to make a payment or withdraw cash, the amount of the transaction is deducted from the card balance.

Cardholders often choose prepaid card to make purchases over the Internet because, in the event of fraud, only the amount still credited to the card is at risk.

Cards that can be used with a wide range of merchants (general-purpose or open-system cards) are issued by banks, e-money institutions (EMIs), Poste Italiane and, to the extent permissible under the applicable law, by central, regional and local governments.

The maximum amount that can be loaded onto a reloadable prepaid card varies from issuer to issuer; cards can be reloaded multiple times. A recent addition to the types of prepaid cards on offer – especially attractive to young people due to the options it offers at low costs – is the 'account card' with IBAN, which incorporates some of the features of payment accounts, such as sending and receiving credit transfers.

Cards issued by providers of goods and services (for example, prepaid calling cards) are not considered electronic money and can be used solely to pay for purchases with the card’s issuer ('closed-system prepaid card').