There are many situations where not having a credit card is an inconvenience. Car rentals, hotel reservations, and airline bookings all require a credit card and if you can’t get one because of limited or bad credit, then you’re in a bind. This is where a prepaid credit card can be beneficial.
Prepaid credit cards are simply Visa, MasterCard, or American Express branded gift cards that are loaded with money and used as credit cards where credit cards are accepted.
How Does a Prepaid Card Work?
With a prepaid credit card, you deposit money onto the card, sort of like a gift card. Then, as you use your prepaid card, the amount of your purchases is taken away from the balance reducing the amount you have left to purchases. Let’s say, for example, you deposit $300 onto your prepaid credit card. After paying $150 for a car rental, you’d only have $150 left to spend. Once you’ve used your entire balance, you must reload more money onto your prepaid credit card before you can use it again.
Managing a prepaid credit card is more like managing a checking or savings account than managing a credit card. You don’t have to worry about interest, finance charges, or late payments. What you have in your account is all you’re able to spend. There’s no revolving balance or due dates to think about.
How Much Does it Cost?
Prepaid credit cards come with a lot of fees. For example, the Account Now Prepaid MasterCard, has a activation fee of $9.95, a monthly transaction fee as high as $9.95, $1 fee for making PIN purchases, $1 fee to check your balance at an ATM, $2 fee to talk to a customer service representative, and a $2 fee to withdraw money from an ATM (in addition to the ATM’s fees). Each time you incur a fee, it comes from your balance, giving you less money to spend.
Who Might Use a Prepaid Credit Card?
You might sign up for a prepaid credit card if your bank doesn’t carry Visa- or MasterCard-branded debit cards and you don’t have a credit card. This will allow you to spend money as if you had a credit or debit card, though you really don’t have one.
Children and college students are also good candidates for prepaid credit cards. Parents can load money on the card for their young kids and begin teaching them good money management skills. For college students, parents can easily reload money onto the card allowing the students to easily pay for books, food, and other expenses.
Will It Help Rebuild Credit?
You can get a prepaid credit card regardless of your credit history. But, a prepaid credit card won’t help you establish or improve your credit. Using a prepaid credit card says nothing about your borrowing or repaying habits, so the card companies don’t report to the credit bureaus. If you have a prepaid credit card, it won’t appear on your credit report or influence your credit score.
If you’re looking to rebuild your credit, a secured credit card is a better option. It’s similar to a prepaid credit card in that you have to make a deposit to get the card. But, it’s actually a credit card. The deposit acts as collateral in case you don’t pay your credit card balance.
