prepaid visa/master card

[||Downhome||]

Im shopping for one. anyone have one or know what the least expensive is?
Ive got a head ache from sifting thru the fee tables and the "what if" exceptions/inclusions on fees. seem most are out to soak you real good.

let me share at this point I will not be doing direct deposit,nor will I be able to
gaurantee a balance or even a monthly deposit. most likely charge it at a payment location (all the major drug chains are nearby) would like to be able to send and recive money with paypal.

I really need it mostly for the paypal, so I can add funds but if my toils start to pay off I may wish to transfer funds over to the prepay.

I have a paypal debit but thier are withdrawl limits so (I know Im dreaming)
being able to tranfer freely and easily may be prudent in the future.

[Windy in Kansas]

I have used a Greendot Mastercard for several years now to fulfill PayPal requirements. Has worked well for me.

Pretty straight forward for the fees, you pay to reload, and the monthly use fee comes out of the account. The peace of mind justifies the monthly cost to me.

Generally they mail a new card to your address each year although I tend to remember that my last card had a two year away expiration date.

You can access your account on line or via telephone.

I have always sent payment with mine and have never had occasion to receive any funds.

Retailers would never even know it is a pre-paid card unless they perhaps looked at the issuer or asked. It otherwise works like any cc.

They should probably be called debit cards instead of credit cards.

[rockhound]

I can say don't get one at walmart. I received a xmas gift that was a prepaid visa. I carried it for a month thinking I could buy my gift at any time. When I did try to use it, it wouldn't work. Tried again at a different store. This is a visa, supposed to work almost anywhere. Finally had to go back to wm and get another card, they wouldn't give a refund. So I took the new card and spent it all on the spot and I am DONE with pre-paid visa.

[Windy in Kansas]

I might add----a problem I have had is with reloading them at my nearby convenience store. The employees don't get trained properly and can't always get the transaction done. Also a number of times they have not listened to me and reload my funds to Visa instead of Mastercard. Takes awhile for them to correct their error.

I now reload at Walmart or Walgreen's and have had no more issues whatsoever.

[HermitJohn]

Guess I am confused, Paypal either requires you to validate an existing bank checking account with them OR you can get their version of Mastercard (administrated by GE bank). There is no other way. Yes you can pay through them with another registered credit card, but you still have to either validate your paypal account through your checking account or get their credit card though you dont have to use it. If you do either of those things, whats the point of a pre-pay credit card?

By way some transactions wont take a prepaid credit card. For instance most dialup isps wont take it as a form of payment since they tend to have a lot of goofy fine print rules to benefit them and want to play games over cancellation and grab a few more months of fees if at all possible. If they take a prepaid card, then they cant keep sucking at the money teat once the balance is depleted.

[||Downhome||]

well john its things like what you describe with the validation with your example of the dialups that happen after the validation of a paypal account that have lead to this.
I still however am in goodstanding with paypal so want to be able to continue funding my account. if they wont take a prepay well they can stuff thesse tuff nougies in their stocking and go cry to a dry milk cow for all I care cause yup thats the game I figure they play. and when the bank feels like slighting a long time customer well they can deal with those guys and not me.

[Windy in Kansas]

Originally Posted by HermitJohn

Paypal either requires you to validate an existing bank checking account with them OR you can get their version of Mastercard (administrated by GE bank). There is no other way. Yes you can pay through them with another registered credit card, but you still have to either validate your paypal account through your checking account or get their credit card though you dont have to use it. If you do either of those things, whats the point of a pre-pay credit card?

They'd certainly like to make everyone think that wouldn't they. I have never validated any account even though asked (demanded) that I do so, nor have I ever had their credit card nor applied for one.

Maybe I simply grandfathered in but I have yet to meet those requirements which they tend to insist upon.

I continue to use PayPal without having met either of their wishes.

[HermitJohn]

I didnt validate my paypal account but then one day it wouldnt work, they claimed I had exceeded total amount you can spend without validating the account and if I wanted to continue I had to validate. I dont think I've spent that much, but I've had paypal account for close to decade so suppose its possible, I sure couldnt prove otherwise. I was really screwed as I had just bought something on ebay that only takes paypal and found this out when I went to pay for it. Nice time to get the ultimatum. Takes several days to validate checking account as they have to make two tiny deposits and then you have to tell them what the deposits were and I didnt want them to have access to my chccking account anyway, so got their credit card which they validate account immediately. Not big deal as its really a GE Bank card, just has Paypal name on it, so Paypal doesnt administer it, i've never been one to go crazy with credit. I only use one credit card and pay it off every month. Stupid account software now tries to default to the Paypal card EVERY time with no way to set it otherwise, so if I want to pay with different card, have to go through couple more pages to choose that way of paying.

[momtaylor]

I use a prepaid Western Union Gold card. It is free. Here is the link to the website. http://www.westernunion.com/WUCOMWEB...name=HomePage# Click on prepaid cards on the right hand side, then click on get a gold prepaid card.

Finally it's here. The prepaid Visa card that earns rewards when you send money or pay bills through Western Union. Sign up here for FREE and start enjoying all of the benefits of your new Gold Card.

Less fees
No fee to activate. No monthly maintenance fees. No purchase transaction fees. No cost to reload via direct deposit and no overdraft fees.

More benefits
•Protected by Visa’s zero liability policy, if your card is lost or stolen, your money will be replaced.
•Reload cash on your card at any of the over 43,000 participating Agent locations.
•No need to fill out forms when transferring money which saves you time.
•Earn valuable rewards including phone time.
•Use anywhere Visa Debit Cards are accepted, even online or at ATMs.

No bank account or credit check required.

Sign Up For Free Today!

[Windy in Kansas]

Originally Posted by HermitJohn

I didnt validate my paypal account but then one day it wouldnt work, they claimed I had exceeded total amount you can spend without validating the account and if I wanted to continue I had to validate.

I had forgotten about it but I did have the same issue. My solution was to close my PayPal account and immediately open a new one which restored the entire amount without any validating.

[HermitJohn]

Originally Posted by Windy in Kansas

I had forgotten about it but I did have the same issue. My solution was to close my PayPal account and immediately open a new one which restored the entire amount without any validating.

LOL... Now you tell me! I figured they wouldnt let me do that or that it wouldnt change need to verify. Well hope you helped somebody out with your reply. Course many do it and they would change rules as they seem to constantly do.