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For many families and individual consumers, prepaid debit cards have become an important and flexible tool for paying monthly bills and staying on a strict budget. The following cards can help in that area by helping you stick to your budget while controlling your spending. You can learn what fees accompany the account and are shielded from high overdraft fees. These reloadable debit cards allow you to only spend up to the amount you have pre-deposited in your account. If you would like greater control over your spending or have a tendency to overspend, then a debit card or a prepaid debit card could be just what the doctor ordered. Navigating the Card Table: Clicking on the More Information button or the card image will take you to our review of that card and more detailed information. Clicking on an Apply Now button will take you to the card-issuer's website where you can apply for the card through their secure form. Please note that we offer reviews of the best reloadable prepaid cards available in 2019. Want to Learn Prepaid Debit Card Basics? Please Review Select Articles from our Archive Below (please note that this information is considered “evergreen”, but may be dated as it is from our archive that goes back to 2013):

Pros and Cons of Traveling with a Prepaid Debit Card:

An alternative to credit cards. If you don’t have a credit card or don’t want to travel with one, a prepaid debit card may be a good option, according to Robert Firpo-Cappiello, Executive Editor of Budget Travel. Read More

Consumers Turning to Prepaid Debit Cards Now More Than Ever:

With tighter consumer regulations and the low-interest rate environment, banks have had to find new and innovative ways to make a profit. This led to higher fees and the end of “free checking” in some cases. This move caused many consumers to avoid bank accounts altogether. According to the October 2011 report “Still Risky: Bank Fees and Disclosures in the States” by The Pew Charitable Trusts, 89% of the checking accounts offered at the 12 largest U. S. institutions involve bank fees. Read More

What is a Prepaid Debit Cards (And How they Work)

Imagine walking into a restaurant and being told that a menu is not needed because there’s only one dish being served. From time to time that happens – set price, or prix fixe, menus pop up at fancy restaurants and around holidays – but for the most part it would prompt many of us to head for the door. We all like choices. As prepaid debit cards continue their rapid jump from the financial fringes to the mainstream, here are the basics on how they work. Click here to read review of the best reloadable prepaid cards and apply online in mins. If you are an obsessive viewer of classic TV shows like “Happy Days” or “Leave it to Beaver,” it would be understandable if you thought that all American families were comprised of a mother, a father and a couple of precocious kids. But those of us who actually leave our houses long enough to look around at the real world know that such an idealized universe exists only on the TV screen. The same disconnect exists when it comes to overly simplistic assumptions about the financial situation in most American households. Indeed, it is easy to assume that every American family has a conventional checking account linked to a debit card and keeps one or two high-limit credit cards – that they pay off every month, of course – around just for emergencies. But that idyllic notion is, well, old school. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau just over one-third of American households might be able to do that. The rest of us rely on a mixture of financial products and tools to pay our bills and put food on the table. For many families, prepaid reloadable cards have become an important and flexible tool for paying monthly bills and staying on a strict budget. It is true that the economic downturn of the past few years has damaged people’s credit and made it impossible for many to obtain a traditional checking account or credit card. While that unfortunate reality has spurred the growth of prepaid debit cards – U.S. News & World Report (https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2013/01/22/the-perils-of-prepaid-debit-cards) reports that $117 billion will go to fund prepaid cards in 2013 – it’s undeniable that these relatively new financial products are gaining traction among more mainstream consumers. With that in mind, it’s helpful to understand a bit about how prepaid cards work and why they’re gaining so much traction. How Prepaid Reloadable Debit Cards Work While it’s undeniable that many of the early adopters of prepaid debit cards sought them out as a result of sheer necessity, their ease of use certainly didn’t hurt. In the most basic terms, here’s how most cards work. Users fund their card – or “load” them, in the vernacular of the prepaid card world – with money via a direct deposit, wire transfer, PayPal or a variety of other means. And once the card is loaded, it works basically the same as a credit card, debit card or check. Cardholders can complete point-of-sale (POS) transactions, go online to shop, or get cash through ATM withdrawals. What is different from credit cards and debit cards linked to a checking account is that the users of prepaid cards cannot spend more money than what is loaded on the card. For families attempting to run cash only households, prepaid debit cards are helpful for staying on budget and out of debt. Why Consumers Like Prepaid Debit Cards In November of 2011, the Pew Health Group convened a series of focus groups to get a better handle on why so many people were choosing prepaid debit cards. One of the main reasons was fear of the unknown. In other words, researchers discovered that most participants felt burned by checking accounts that hit them with unexpected fees. While prepaid debit cards have fees – and shoppers need to be very careful to understand those charges – focus group participants found them to be more transparent than many checking fees. “They prefer the $2 and $3 fees from prepaid cards over the potential of a $35 overdraft fee on their checking accounts,” the report said. Pew researchers also reported that “prepaid cards allow these consumers to limit their spending and avoid incurring unwanted debt,” and “many regularly check their balance online or over the telephone.” Some of the consumers said that they believed they had more financial privacy with prepaid cards and that the cards reduced the risk of identity theft. How to Apply for a Prepaid Debit Card First, shop carefully for the prepaid reloadable card with the fewest and lowest fees. Many card issuers have Web pages that detail their fee schedules so take the time to read how different offers compare. Be especially careful about monthly fees, charges levied to launch an account as well as fees for not using the card frequently enough, known as inactivity fees. Responding to consumers’ complaints and legal challenges by various states’ attorneys general, some prepaid card providers have minimized fees, and added fraud and theft protections. As more attention has been devoted to prepaid debit cards, issuers like American Express have also announced that their products will include protection by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Several credible websites, including this one, rank the best reloadable prepaid debit card providers and offer links to apply (click for our reviews). Still, you absolutely must read the fine print very carefully before you hand over your cash. But once you do choose a card, the process for getting one is simple. Prepaid debit card providers do not run credit checks on applicants. Therefore, “applications” serve primarily to verify customers’ identities and basic personal information. Securing a major retailer’s prepaid card takes just a few minutes and mostly involves trading cash for a card imprinted with the Visa or MasterCard logo. Reputable retailers will ask for some kind of government-issued photo identification, and most charge between $3 and $5 in setup fees. Once you activate a card, you may reload it, and you may use your card most places where you would use a credit or debit card. If you complete the process online, expect to spend approximately a minute completing the form, and about 15 seconds waiting for an acceptance. The card issuer then will mail your card, and you will pay up to $5 to activate it (a few cards charge no activation fee). Loading procedures vary from card to card, but the providers encourage users to set up direct deposit with employers and benefits providers.

A Prepaid What? A Guide to Prepaid Debit Cards:

She spoke with the sort of breathless enthusiasm of someone who had just discovered gold, or at least a sure-fire way to get toddlers to sleep through the night. Recently, a co-worker told me she uses prepaid debit cards to manage her family’s spending. The result: she and her husband saved more than $2,000 in just under two months. Sure, it’s a piece of plastic, but prepaid debit cards don’t work like credit or debit cards. Understanding how they differ is key to deciding which prepaid card, if any, to choose She spoke with the sort of breathless enthusiasm of someone who had just discovered gold, or at least a sure-fire way to get toddlers to sleep through the night. Recently, a co-worker told me she uses prepaid debit cards to manage her family’s spending. The result: she and her husband saved more than $2,000 in just under two months. Sounds pretty good, possibly too good? Well, yes and it depends. Over the past few years prepaid debit cards have burst onto the scene in the already crowded consumer financial services universe. Indeed, banking behemoths like JPMorgan Chase & Company and Wells Fargo – not to mention celebrities like music impresario Russell Simmons – have all put their very recognizable names behind prepaid debit cards. The influence of big banks and celebrities had particular sway in boosting the prepaid debit card industry because there were a lot of people in need of plastic. “With the credit crunch beginning to take shape 5 years ago a few companies saw an opportunity to fill a growing desire for consumers to transact using plastic despite not being able to get traditional unsecured credit cards,” says John Ulzheimer, President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com. In the past, prepaid debit cards were fringe offerings, appealing to those who, thanks to a recent bankruptcy or divorce, had the sort of finances that made it difficult or impossible to obtain a traditional credit card from Visa or MasterCard. But as prepaid debit cards have been embraced by the most mainstream of financial services companies, it’s no big surprise that the pitch to get one is not meant to appeal to those on the financial margins. Rather, the companies offering cards tout a variety of benefits to using them, arguing that they are safer than carrying around wads of cash and a convenient and powerful tool to keep spending in check. In fact, the ability to do just that is hardwired into the design of prepaid cards. Whether provided by Russell Simmons or Wells Fargo, these cards operate a lot like a gift card from Walmart or Chipotle: if you fund it with $100, you have $100 to spend – there’s none of the overdraft protections or sky-high credit ceilings that can so easily thwart even the best intentioned budget. But that’s not to say that all prepaid debit cards are created equal. Far from it, actually. Navigating the prepaid card landscape is neither easy nor intuitive. Fine print about the sorts of fees that can make an otherwise attractive sounding card a complete dud is not always easy to find, let alone understand. And with a multitude of prepaid debit cards on the market, having the tools to decipher how one is different from the next is an extremely important first step in deciding which card to choose. Reading this guide is a great start on the road to becoming a savvy shopper. After you’re done here, check out our reviews and rankings of the current crop of prepaid cards. At BestPrepaidDebitCards.com, our goal is to help you find the card that best matches your individual needs, and to save you some money along the way. Let’s get started. A Roiling Sea of Fees and Jargon Do you know what a card loading fee is? Any idea what a monthly service charge is all about? Of course you don’t, you have a life. But here’s the unfortunate reality: unless you learn to speak the language of prepaid debit cards, the likelihood that you’ll get socked with a lot of unnecessary fees goes way up. Think of it as walking into a Parisian café and not speaking a word of French. Any chance you’ll get what you want? And really, in the same way that savvy investors are maniacal about either eliminating or gutting as many fees as they possibly can, so too should anyone considering a prepaid card. While it is true that most prepaid card issuers charge $5 to create your account, a fee that is reasonable given that they do have to issue a card and establish an account, there are a host of other charges to review as carefully as you possibly can. Use your Internet resources, and compare monthly fees along with so-called hidden or junk fees, including membership, inactivity and maintenance charges. Here is a good list of the terms you absolutely need to know:

• ·         Application fee — to set up your account and to cover the expenses associated with printing your card.
• ·         Monthly service charge — may entitle you to certain services such as a toll-free helpline or on-line and on-demand statement service for tracking spending.
• ·         Card loading fee — to load more cash onto your prepaid card. This may vary depending on how you add money to your account. For instance, if  you load funds onto your card from a bank account, you may be charged a fee by your bank.
• ·         ATM withdrawal fee — a charge for withdrawing money. A higher charge may apply when withdrawing money from ATMs abroad.
• ·         Purchase or per transaction fees — you may be charged for each transaction, and certain types of transactions cost more than others.
• ·         Inactivity fees — for those periods when no transactions occur, some prepaid cards charge a maintenance fee for keeping your account open.

Source: Maestrocard.com Red Alert: Be especially careful of inactivity fees since any balance left can be eaten up while you’re off living your life and not using your card for extended periods (typically 90-180 days); these are not like bank accounts that merrily earn interest while left unattended. All Applications Welcome One of the factors behind the proliferation of prepaid cards is the fact that providers don’t run credit checks on applicants. Remember, these aren’t credit cards, so there’s no need for card issuers to break their necks to determine whether you’ll pay you’re your debts. Therefore, “applications” serve primarily to verify customers’ identities and residence information, so be sure you have a driver’s license or state-issued ID on hand when you apply. A temporary prepaid card is provided upon payment of applicable fees. Your permanent card will be mailed to you in a week or so. Minimum Age for Cardholders In all 50 states, the minimum age to vote is 18 and you have to be at least 21 to purchase alcohol. Not so with prepaid cards, where age limits vary depending on the card issuer. While most require applicants to be at least 18, there are other products catering to a youth audience, BillMyParents and the PAYjr Visa Buxx card. One provider, the RushCard, issues cards to kids as young as 13. This likely has a lot to do with marketing. Russell Simmons of Def Comedy Jam fame is behind the RushCard. According to the RushCard website, the card offering began as a joint venture between “Rush Communications, owned by philanthropist and entrepreneur Russell Simmons, and Unifund Corporation” in an effort to offer convenience and respect to all cardholders, even those unable to qualify for a traditional bank debit card. RushCard does require a parental consent form, as do other products catering to a youth audience. Lost In The Mail In most cases, your cardholder agreement spells out what to do if your permanent card fails to arrive by mail.  Be sure to read this fine print and ask questions if things are unclear.  Follow instructions exactly when contacting your prepaid account provider. Time To Do a Cash Load or Reload Loading money on a prepaid card is simple: Visit one of the provider locations and pay the applicable loading fee (in some cases, loading is free), and you are all set. Some rules and limits may apply regarding the maximum amount you can place on your card in a single day, week or month.  In many cases, you can arrange for direct deposit of your paycheck or benefits by completing a form.  Most forms can be downloaded and printed for mailing or, even easier, completed online. Is This Company Legit? One of the most challenging problems associated with prepaid cards is avoiding fraudulent companies. We suggest looking for prepaid card reviews by former and current cardholders, as well as checking to see if there have been any complaints filed with state and local law enforcement agencies. You can also check with the Better Business Bureau and consumer protection organizations online. Also, when applying for a card, check your browser’s security notifications.  Typically, you will see a lock icon to denote that the transaction is secure, and you may see an “s” on the end of the traditional “http”, noting that you’re on a secure site (it will look like this in the URL: https://). The fact that large financial institutions will likely be a benefit to prepaid debit card consumers, argues Ulzheimer, because it will train more attention on the industry. “I think the entry of Chase and Amex is a good thing for consumers because consumer groups, the media and certainly the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) pay close attention to how they treat customers,” he says. “The Amex Bluebird card became best of breed overnight with their very limited fee structure and reload arrangement with Walmart. Having said that, they’re still more expensive than no fee credit cards and properly managed checking accounts.” You Snooze, You Really Lose If you lose your card, don’t go do a load of laundry or settle in to finally watch that season of “The Sopranos” that you missed. Contact your card issuer immediately. Terms vary, but if you can manage to call before any transactions are reported, you likely won’t be liable for any charges. If you report the loss or theft of your card within 2 days, the most you are on the hook for is $50. But if you wait longer than 2 days, the amount goes up substantially, to as much as $500. Full Disclosure We have no secrets here at BestPrepaidDebitCards.com. So in an effort to be completely transparent about our interactions with the issuers of prepaid debit cards, we hope you’ll read a bit about our business model. We are what is known as an affiliate marketing site – another little bit of jargon for you – which means that, like other sites, we include links to prepaid card applications throughout the site. Of course, in exchange for doing this we earn revenue from the companies that want you to sign up for their cards. The placement on the site of this so-called “sponsored content” depends on how much a company is willing to pay; the more prominent, popular spots on the site cost more. But you can be absolutely assured of this: such affiliations do not mean that we offer anything but unvarnished and objective information here at BestPrepaidDebitCards.com. What it does mean is that when you click on an offer and successfully apply for a card, it helps to support this website and the content we provide. Even though we do receive compensation from our site sponsors, we aim to deliver dependable and unbiased reviews of cards and their features. The best way to find the right card for you is to check the fees and find the card that suits your spending patterns. Don’t apply for a card just because it receives five stars, or whatever the rating may be. Simply use the information gained from comparison sites to help you make an informed decision. Regardless of which provider you choose for your prepaid card, the goal is to develop better money-management skills and perhaps even self-control over your spending. I believe a prepaid card can be a wise choice.