Comments on: Pros and Cons of Using Prepaid Debit Cards

By: Jason

Jason — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:00:43 +0000

I love using prepaids for several of the reasons you mentioned above.
I usually use paysafecards which aren’t prepaid debit cards, but are mostly used for games and skype and such online but that’s similar enough :)

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:16:58 +0000

I won a pre-paid debit card as a prize at my school’s After Prom my senior year and it was great as I was going off to college. I went to school halfway across the country and didn’t know what all I’d need to buy once I was there, so it was nice to just have money I could spend however I needed to. I don’t know that I’d use one for my day-to-day expenses, but I would definitely consider getting one for big vacations where I want to have access to money, but I’m worried about losing the card/having it stolen.

By: Andrew @ Earn Give Save

Andrew @ Earn Give Save — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:30:14 +0000

We just got one of these as a perk for upgrading our internet service from AT&T U-verse. They work fine, but I would never think to preload a card like this just for personal use. I would probably only use this type of thing if it were received as a gift or promotion.

By: Gina

Gina — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:18:31 +0000

I do not use one. And if I had a similar experience as Monroe, I wouldn’t have used one again.

However, the new financial “trick pony” these days is a pre-paid environment. For example, with cell phones. We are at a 90% market saturation for users, so most providers are selling ‘pre-paid’ cell service. I have a feeling that the banks will also jump on the band wagon and improve their pre-paid debit cards soon. The market will demand it.

By: dramon

dramon — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:01:30 +0000

I looked into it to control college spending, but found the fees where too high. Ended up using ing with no overdraft as a way to control over draft fees

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:06:40 +0000

@ Monroe,
You are definitely right! there is nothing better than cash to pay for something anyway ;-)

By: Monroe on a Budget

Monroe on a Budget — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:46:36 +0000

I arranged for a prepaid debit card about four years ago for my daughter. She was in high school and just starting to travel by herself. I thought it would be a convenience for her at the airport. We bought the card from our bank.

But we ran into limitations with prepaid debit card. One day we saw some luggage at a department store on a really good sale. The department store cash register would not take her prepaid debit card, but that was the only significant “cash” she had available. We had to make another trip to the store with an alternative method to buy the items.

I don’t know why the department store machine wouldn’t take the debit card. The clerk couldn’t tell us either. There was more than money in the debit card account. After my daughter finished up that debit card, she never got another one.

The way we see it — If you can’t use a prepaid debit card for “general purpose” purchases, why bother?