Wal-Mart announced a partnership with American Express to start offering the Bluebird Card, a no-fee prepaid debit card that is being billed as an alternative to a traditional checking account with features like mobile bill pay. In fact, the FDIC "Underbanked" study looked directly at prepaid cards, noting that the number of unbanked and underbanked households using them jumped from 12.2% in 2009 to 17.8% in 2011.