Anyone here use them?

How secure are they?

Who has access to purchase history?

Do you find them safer to use than debit cards attached to your checking account?

Noticed any hidden fees?

What are the pros and cons of using them?

Just a couple questions. I am thinking of getting one.

They are safe....
They are monitered by the Federal Government to catch people who use them for money laundering purposes and illegal activities.
Federal Govt. has acess to history....
Most charge you a fee for transactions like a buck per transaction at an ATM...

PROS and CONS just depends on what your using it for...
Your only allowed to load so much on them....

I consider them reloadable gift cards with a credit card logo attached,,,

instead of having to use them in a specific place, you can use them wherever that card is accepted,,,

i've used them and they are great.GreenDot is the one i prefer.i use it to pay for gaming subscriptions.

they seem pretty safe to me.i haven't had any issues and a great thing is,you can put however much you want on one.it does charge like a $3.00 monthly fee and charges $3.00 when you add money to it but that's not a big deal for me

I've been using a Netspend card for over 14 years (Three cards issued over the years technically).

I use it for everything. Internet payments, car insurance payments, everything I've EVER purchased on E-bay, Everything I've ever purchased from Tiger direct. I've even used it as a savings account, so I wouldn't spend my gas money. :-)

It is about as safe as it gets. Years ago I had a friend who actually ordered Girls gone wild. The deal was three films for $19.95, and that part worked fine. However,.. Every month after that, until he cancelled his REAL credit card, THAT company sent him another film and charged him ANOTHER $19.95. He tried to stop them, he called over and over. In the end he had to get a new card issued.

The same thing happened to my mother with Oxy-clean.

This CAN'T happen with a prepaid card. I load what I need, spend it an hour later,.. NOTHING is left TO steal!

I do not have, nor do I want a real credit card, I've never even applied for one. I don't do car loans or other "debt" based programs. That is why I use one of these cards. I still have all the great benefits of "plastic" money. Without the debt!

I think everyone should opt for this over DEBT!

Or invest in something really big, like a house :)

Prepaid cards can be great if you are worried about illegit charges. They are particularly smart when buying on line, in resturants, or when you want to teach a child or assist an impaired adult to pay a bill.

And an increaseing number of places are refuseing cards, chargeing store fees, and because so many are being bootlegged and or stolen I don't see them much safer than carrying a wad of cash.

Prepaid cards can help if you don't want as many people tracking your overall spending habits but can back fire if you ever need to account for your location or spending habits such as a criminal investigation or IRS audit. It is a good way to let a lot of money slip through you7r figers with out realizeing it.

And it is not a good way to build any kind of credit which is definitely and advantage if you want to rent a desireable property, ever buy a home, finance a car with out paying double for it in high interest financeing charges, or any other reason you might want a positive credit rateing like employment, starting a business, medical (especially dental) care, or even personal reference. Just the fact that you buy prepaid diebit cards that don't account for your miscellaneous spending can send up "red flags".

Useing a prepaid debit card for a savings account is a very poor spending habit because the fees alone, even if small are just throwing money away when a dollar is usually enough to open a credit union account which will pay you interest, build your credit, and get you a surpriseing number of discounts and perks on a variety of goods and services. Even minor improvements in your credit score can save you tousands of dollars in lower rent, interest fees, insurance discounts, and even job promotions or preventing layoffs over the years.

Dropping a couple of dollars a month in a credit union savings account is a great way to save check cashing fees on all sorts of checks and if you are smart enough to have bonus money like refunds, rebates, or even your paycheck direct deposited to it can really save your behind if you ever really do need a emergency fund.

Thanks, ya'll.
I appreciate the input and will consider all the advice.

The only reason I would use one...

If I was gonna do something dirty I don't want linked to me....otherwise I just use my debit card....

......sooooo....

What are you doing that you don't want traced?

:)

Nada.
Just hear a lot about over billing, no protection against theft and it seems safer to use as far as internet purchases and bill paying goes.
Like I keep reading. They can only steal the amount loaded.
Ps
SSN and other identity verifying info is gathered before they will activate the card.
All transactions are trackable.

There are some pre-paid cards that some places will not take.. I know I had one that I got for unemployment and could not use it to pay my car payment at the time.. But I could pay most of my bills with it...Therefore had to pull it all out with a fee for each transaction just so I could put it in my regular checking account...so I could pay them with my ATM Debit Card...

Just have to read the fine print of what each one will allow you to do or not do with them.

And you will find some online sites will not take a pre-paid card.

Ive never used one. Always used a debt card with no problems. Just be careful where one uses it.

What gift card can you use to upgrade on mingle2.xom

Apparently Itune cards are quite popular on M2



Jones? you do realize this thread is 5 yrs old right?