Prepaid Credit Card Guide
Reloadable Prepaid Credit Card Offers -
Visa or Mastercard Deals

Plan, Budget, and Spend Wisely with Prepaid Credit Cards.

Prepaid Visa Card Prepaid MasterCard

You get the independence you deserve, with the built-in spending controls of a pre-paid card.

What is a prepaid credit card?

A prepaid Visa or prepaid Master card can be used like any other credit card to make purchases. With a prepaid card, however, you load funds onto your card and use that money to make purchases and get cash -- you are not borrowing money from a bank or other financial institution. The prepaid credit cards look, feel and work like a credit card but are pre-funded "stored-value" cards. This allows you to set spending limits for you or your kids.

• Safe: safer than carrying cash
• Efficient: no interest charge
• Convenient: pay everywhere Visa or MasterCard is accepted

The prepaid credit cards can be used for:

• Purchases
• Money management for young adults
• Travel including reserving a hotel and rental car
• Emergency needs
• Cash access at ATMs
• Employee wages & expenses
• Electronic payments
• Gift-giving
  

How does a prepaid credit card work?

It is a pre-paid, reloadable card can be used anywhere Visa or MasterCard is accepted -- at stores, gas stations, restaurants, theaters, in the mall and online. Making a hotel and rental car reservation is a snap. You can also access cash at ATM's. The card is great for everyday purchases, special occasions, and emergency back up.

Unlike a credit card, though, each purchase is deducted from the pre-paid balance on the card. Best of all, because it's not a credit card, there are no finance charges, no late fees, and no accumulation of debt.

• accepted anywhere a Visa or MasterCard is accepted
• can be used to withdraw cash from an ATM.
• relodable

Why do you want to use a prepaid credit card?

• Safer than cash
  When cash is lost, it is gone forever. However, if your prepaid credit card is ever lost or stolen, you're protected by Visa or MasterCard's no liability policy.
  
  
• Budgeting
  You set the spending limits by the prepaid amount loaded on the card. Prepaid credit cards make it easy to get your spending under control and shop wisely.
  
  
• Teaching tool
  Parents can sign up for their teens: they set spending limits by loading the card with a certain amount of money and monitor where their children are spending it. Prepaid card meets the spending needs of teens and helps develop responsible financial behavior. With online tracking of purchases, parents and teens can discuss spending and budgeting

A range of budgeting and payment options are available for young adults, and families can choose based on convenience and flexibility.

Who needs a prepaid credit card?

Prepaid credit cards are ideal for:

How is the prepaid credit card different from regular credit cards?

The prepaid credit card looks like a credit card - it has the Visa or MasterCard logo and hologram -and allows the convenience of cashless purchases like a signature-based credit card, with no PIN input required at the point-of-sale. However, it does not have a "line of credit" because it accesses pre-loaded money. You load funds onto your Card and use that money to make purchases and get cash - you are not borrowing money from a bank or other financial institution.

How is the prepaid credit card different from debit cards?

With debit cards you use within the limit of a bank account and money is withdrawn from a bank account as soon as payment is made. Usually, debit cards are not
accepted when you make a hotel or rental car reservation.

Prepaid Visa or Prepaid MasterCard is actually a pre-paid, reloadable card and completely separate from the checking or savings account. It is accepted wherever VIsa or MasterCard is accepted. Making a reservation for your travel is just like when you use the regular credit card.

Two Ways of Debit Card Transactions - Online or Offline

Prepaid cards are very popular

Prepaid cards have become more popular with consumers, and the prepaid card market has produced a variety of new products and services.

Prepaid cards include a wide variety of products, including gift cards, payroll cards, teen cards, flexible spending account cards, employee incentive cards, government stored-value cards, and disaster relief cards. Each of these prepaid products has its own unique set of economic, technological, and operational complexities.

Payroll Debit Cards Are Cost Effective and Convenient

Employer can save money and resources associated with payroll processing and distribution costs while employees benefit with the piece of mind of knowing that their wages are accurately and consistently deposited into their personal bank account.

Read more for Payroll Debit Cards

Prepaid credit card offers

Two Types of Prepaid Cards: Open and Closed -System Prepaid Cards

The popularity of prepaid credit cards is rising. Visa and MasterCard are issuing prepaid, or pre-denominated, stored-value cards, as they're called, that can be used anywhere Visa or MasterCard are accepted.

There are two different types of prepaid cards: closed-system and open-system prepaid cards. Closed-system prepaid cards are those issued by and redeemable at a single merchant (or merchant chain). Closed-system retailer gift card programs focus on a single application: providing a prepaid card product to consumers solely for making purchases at a single merchant or, in some cases, a group of retail merchants.

Read more on Two Types of Prepaid Cards