Bluebird flew (sorry about that) onto the scene in early October 2012 and set the industry atwitter about the strength of prepaid as a checking account alternative. A partnership between odd couple American Express and Walmart, Bluebird put prepaid competitors in the cross hairs while simultaneously legitimizing the space in the eyes of observers. Mobile-friendly, light on fees and even lighter on branches (there are none) Bluebird is looking to yank Gen-Y and “underbanked” customers out from under the noses of sleeping banks. Bluebird has now entered the rarefied airspace of the hip young mobile banks GoBank (from prepaid veteran Green Dot), Moven, and Simple.

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