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A CFPB study released Thursday found that offering a small incentive to prepaid card users to put some of their money into a savings "wallet" doubled use of the wallet. The study was part of the bureau's Project Catalyst research initiative.

CFPB noted that consumers who used the wallet continued to use it after the pilot program ended. Also, consumers who were offered the incentive to open the savings wallet used payday loans 20 to 40 percent less often than consumers not offered an incentive to open a wallet.

American Express launched this pilot program encouraging certain prepaid card users to set money aside in a non-interest bearing savings wallet that was separate from funds used for regular transactions, CFPB said. Efforts used to encourage savings included email and direct mail. These messages explained the benefits of setting aside funds and noted the automatic transfer feature consumers could sign up for.

Another strategy used was a promotional incentive that gave customers $10 on their prepaid cards if they put $150 of their own money in the savings wallet by a certain date.

CFPB said the trial program included about 540,000 prepaid card users, many of them low- and moderate-income consumers. The bureau confirmed that the information American Express shared with CFPB was de-identified and individual consumers could not be identified through the data. The project included a follow-up survey nine months after the trial ended.

The purpose of the bureau's Project Catalyst initiative is to encourage consumer-friendly developments in markets for consumer financial products and services.