Pre-paid Credit Cards

[McCardle 1]

Anybody using these new fangled Pre-Paid credit cards?.

 

For those who have never heard of them, they exist in order to give those with little or non existant credit rating to easily obtain a Visa / Mastercard without any credit check and to use their card at the outlets (retail and online) which already accept these types of card. They are also useful in cases where you want to control your monthly spending (or that of a Son / Daughter :devil: )

 

They work pretty much like a PAYG mobile phone, and you can top up at a Bank, Post Office, Pay zone / Point terminals, bank transfer or even set up a monthly direct debit.

 

Just wondering if anybody had any experiences of any particular card / company

Edited March 16, 2009 by McCardle

[disco4hire 1]

I've got the PayPal one, I've found it quite handy to spend the contents of my PP account without waiting to transfere the funds into my bank. Since I only load it with specific sums of cash, it's almost impossible to be ripped off with it.

[Kingy 0]

Bearing in mind the B of E base rate @0.5%, I wonder what interest rate or commision these charge? I recently saw an advert for 29.9% in a shop window!!

 

Get a Virgin one!

 

And read Martin Lewis' moneysaver web page every week.

[YourBigEvent 0]

497.5% is the highest APR I've seen.

Look here

 

 

 

 

[Dream Catchers 0]

Bearing in mind the B of E base rate @0.5%, I wonder what interest rate or commision these charge? I recently saw an advert for 29.9% in a shop window!!

 

Get a Virgin one!

 

And read Martin Lewis' moneysaver web page every week.

If you have got to put the money on it before you can spend it I would imagine they can't charge YOU interest.

Maybe they make their money by having your money in their account and earning interest on it.

 

Or do they not work that way?

 

Jim

[Kingy 0]

If you have got to put the money on it before you can spend it I would imagine they can't charge YOU interest.

Maybe they make their money by having your money in their account and earning interest on it.

 

Or do they not work that way?

 

Jim

 

No idea, they are bound to try and charge you for something.

 

I wouldn't touch them, personally.

[Dream Catchers 0]

I can't understand why anybody would want one.

I've just had a look on the net to find out about them.

You have to pay a fee to get the card (normally about £10), you then need to put the money on them that you wish to spend (another fee is normally charged), and finally when you use it there is another fee of about 2.5%.

 

So instead of paying all these fees why not get the basic bank account with a debit card for nothing?

 

On a point of interest rates, my stepson has just receive a Vanquis junk application through the post, upto 59.9% :eek:

 

Jim

[Robster 0]

I can't understand why anybody would want one.

I've just had a look on the net to find out about them.

You have to pay a fee to get the card (normally about £10), you then need to put the money on them that you wish to spend (another fee is normally charged), and finally when you use it there is another fee of about 2.5%.

 

So instead of paying all these fees why not get the basic bank account with a debit card for nothing?

 

On a point of interest rates, my stepson has just receive a Vanquis junk application through the post, upto 59.9% :eek:

 

Jim

 

The reason is simple , many can not get a credit card from the normal lenders ..They are very popular in my area. just as paying your electricity or Gas through a meter is the most expensive way to pay the bills many in my area use this option , it is the poorest who end up paying the most for this type of thing..because of the higher risk they pay more interest. The provident woman does a roaring trade on my street also as does catalogue sellers etc .

 

The more money you have the more interest free deals you can qualify for ie for tellys and sofas .. people who already have money qualify easily those who dont are the the ones who would really benefit from "interest free credit" often can only get high interest credit offers.

 

 

The basic account and debit cards often are visa Electron and solo... not accepted everywhere for genuine visa etc you need a proper credit card or a pre paid one.

[disco4hire 1]

 

You have to pay a fee to get the card (normally about £10), you then need to put the money on them that you wish to spend (another fee is normally charged), and finally when you use it there is another fee of about 2.5%.

 

 

Not in my experience, PayPal debit card charges a £4.95 set up fee, nothing to load the card via P/P otherwise £1, no fee to use the card to buy goods in the UK and £2 to withdraw cash from an ATM. I don't think this is expensive considering the convenience of instant access to my P/P funds. If I didn't use P/P I wouldn't bother with it, as I already have a couple of bank debit cards, but they do have their use to people who the banks won't issue a card to.

 

[DJ JENX 0]

I can't understand why anybody would want one.

I've just had a look on the net to find out about them.

You have to pay a fee to get the card (normally about £10), you then need to put the money on them that you wish to spend (another fee is normally charged), and finally when you use it there is another fee of about 2.5%.

 

So instead of paying all these fees why not get the basic bank account with a debit card for nothing?

 

On a point of interest rates, my stepson has just receive a Vanquis junk application through the post, upto 59.9% :eek:

 

Jim

I have a paypal one, seems the best around, only use it for getting rid of paypal balances and paying for things online.

 

As for fees...

 

£5 for the initial card. Nothing to put money on it and nothing to use it.

 

Only have to pay if topping up in a shop £1 per purchase or withdrawing from a cash machine £2.

 

Never used it for anything other than saving paypal balance for xmas etc. Doesnt cost a thing that way apart from the £5 to get the card. Then on xmas get everyones pressies from it. works for me as im rubbish with saving cash!

 

Have a bank acc and debit cards, cc etc but prefer to use this to be honest.

[Dream Catchers 0]

I know Provident etc do a roaring trade on council estates, and know that there are many people who rely on them.

I also can see where you are going with the PayPal ones, although if they run the card anything like they run the normal PayPal account I would be very cautious about using one of theirs.

 

It's just the CC thing (well it's not a credit card its a debit card) that I don't understand, you have to have the money to put on them in the first place, so why not just pay cash, use a debit card or bank transfer?

Or are you not able to use basic bank accounts like that?

 

You have to pay a fee to get the card (normally about £10), you then need to put the money on them that you wish to spend (another fee is normally charged), and finally when you use it there is another fee of about 2.5%.

 

Not in my experience, PayPal debit card charges a £4.95 set up fee, nothing to load the card via P/P otherwise £1, no fee to use the card to buy goods in the UK and £2 to withdraw cash from an ATM

 

£5 for the initial card, Only have to pay if topping up in a shop £1 per purchase or withdrawing from a cash machine £2.

 

So they DO charge a fee to get the card, put money on it and spend it LOL

 

Jim

[centrestagediscos 0]

i would get one to use in certain holiday destinations i know a few people who have been victims of card fraud and as the crime rate seems to be getting higher i would rather my missus hand over a card with just a few quid on it rather than the bank card if some junkie decides shes going to buy there next fix...slightly off topic a friend of hers was threatened at our local shops the other day she was helped out by passers by two police came around the corner and rather than arrest them they sais they were agitated because the chemist was late opening and they were waiting for there methedone and it would only aggravate them more if they intervened.

[McCardle 1]

lightly off topic a friend of hers was threatened at our local shops the other day she was helped out by passers by two police came around the corner and rather than arrest them they sais they were agitated because the chemist was late opening and they were waiting for there methedone and it would only aggravate them more if they intervened

 

You should know by now that society is only interested in prosecuting 'soft' targets like Motorists going ever so slightly over the speed limit and prisons are built for little old ladies who can't pay their poll tax. Most people these days don't bother reporting crime, I wonder why

[Twisted 0]

My day time job I run a small Bike parts shop

and our bank will only give us a maestro card which no one in Europe takes so its great for over seas purchases of stock & kit with the protection of master card & no chance of some one nicking the number & running up a big debt

as you have to put the cash in via a post office for next day clearance with no charge to top up

where as the business bank charge 0.5% on cash deposits

so say I bank £2k a month the bang nicks £20 for the pleasure

I,ve had the cash pluss card a few months and all works fine

I,m actually thinking of dumping the bank account

[Kingy 0]

My day time job I run a small Bike parts shop

and our bank will only give us a maestro card which no one in Europe takes so its great for over seas purchases of stock & kit with the protection of master card & no chance of some one nicking the number & running up a big debt

as you have to put the cash in via a post office for next day clearance with no charge to top up

where as the business bank charge 0.5% on cash deposits

so say I bank £2k a month the bang nicks £20 for the pleasure

I,ve had the cash pluss card a few months and all works fine

I,m actually thinking of dumping the bank account

 

Ask the bank to check their maths then......... :ads:

[DJ JENX 0]

So they DO charge a fee to get the card, put money on it and spend it LOL

 

Jim

 

 

Yes they charge if you py cash to top it up or to withdraw cash from it.

 

However I have never paid to top it up as I u se it purely for paypal stuff, so its free to transfer your paypal balance to the card, then use it for fuel or whatever.

 

It is an easier way to spend paypal stuff, as if you wanted to transfer your paypal balance to your bank you pay some of it for the pleasure, however, by simply transfering to your paypal pre paid card its on immediately, (rather than a week if your lucky if you transfer to bank) and best of all you dont lose any of your balance.

 

Quite a good way of not losing so much from paypal.

 

Thats my opinion!

[disco4hire 1]

 

It is an easier way to spend paypal stuff, as if you wanted to transfer your paypal balance to your bank you pay some of it for the pleasure, however, by simply transfering to your paypal pre paid card its on immediately, (rather than a week if your lucky if you transfer to bank) and best of all you dont lose any of your balance. Quite a good way of not losing so much from paypal.

 

Thats my opinion!

 

Mine too, why do people insist on belittling a perfectly good product?