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I wanted one for the convenience of giving it to my daughter for college and then being able to go online and put money on it when she needs some. But the charges are too high so I will just drive to WaMu where she has her free account and deposit cash.
I do this for my teenage son. We use the UPside card which is specifically geared for teens/parents and helping them learn to manage money. I am not charged any fees. I load it every few months and if I load from my checking account, I have not occurred fees for that type of transfer.
He has his own checking and savings. What we use this particular card for is his monthly allowance for his necessities. I give him $20/month. He has to use that to get things like shampoo, deodorant, clothes, etc. It helps him learn the value of things and not to always expect the most expensive, etc. or he'll have to do without. He has actually started clipping coupons for his favorite soap
I have a separate login so I can monitor the account.
#1 I am not trying to build cr..2 I am trying to keep from carring lots of cash at the beginning of the month [usually broke by mid month...but bills are paid!!] Trying to find a way to pay bills without getting lost in the mail...as the mail seems to get worse as stamps & all go up [going up again in May!!] So Other than the fees are there any other pit falls with prepaid...oh and I am planning on moving from this area in a year...so no I dont want an account that I will have to close in a year.
No I dont think these are gift cards...emailv. Tho most gift cards do have an experation date & their own fees...you should check them out before you buy & spend them as soon as possible according to what I heard on the news after Christmas!
Have you thought about an internet account where your money gets deposited automatically and you can take out your spending cash, then pay all your bills online? then you dont have to worry about loosing anything in the mail and you wont have to close the account when you move.
I dont like the idea of the prepaid credit card at all, but different things work for different people. I hate rent a center places, but that is the only way my brother can seem to buy decent stuff without racking up a credit card. same scenario. whatever works for you. My 2 cents "another way to keep poor people poor".
The property that I am buying right now is no more than most people pay for a good car.
I'm paying 8% because my credit score is very low. We don't use credit cards at all and before we had medical coverage we racked up many huge medical bills that we fell behind on. Now that we have that under control our new bank (Stockmans bank) is an old school large commercial bank who after considering our income and the value of the properties felt that it was ok to approve our small loan. We are not talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars here.
Like I said before a prepaid card is not a credit card and does nothing to build credit. Many bills can be paid online now and a card can be lost or stolen. I would do as the other posters say and just get a checking account with a debit card.
There are lots of Internet only banks that offer checking accounts. They provide you with a debit card like any brick and mortar bank. Some of them even give you interest on your money and refund any ATM fees.
ING need local bank account.....Schwab $100 min bal service fee $3...$2 each withdrawal fee for the first 3 per mo the $10 each time there after.....Bank Internetevery time account falls under $100 $5 maintenance fee. Etrade must own home!
So these dont sound that good...and there were lots of fees I did not list.
Any other ideas???
ING need local bank account.....Schwab $100 min bal service fee $3...$2 each withdrawal fee for the first 3 per mo the $10 each time there after.....Bank Internetevery time account falls under $100 $5 maintenance fee. Etrade must own home!
So these dont sound that good...and there were lots of fees I did not list.
Any other ideas???
-Schwab has a $0 min balance and no service fees. (you want "high interest investor checking" not their regular checking)
-I don't know where you get the "must own home" for etrade. The only thing you need to avoid fees from etrade is to have a direct deposit of $200 or more a month. The only requirements are that you are 18 or over and have a SSN.
peteynice suggested the same ones I would. Will you have direct deposit? Most online banks have free checking with direct deposit. Also, it matters if you already have bad banking relationships(owe money to othere banks)
another idea is one of the big banks like wachovia. You can have an online account and they are in most areas. Atms all over. another idea is a credit union. SOME credit unions offer mainly online banking and belong to a credit union system (I forgot what it is called) where there are atms all over the US you can access for free and other branches. My hubby has had 2 credit union accounts for probably 20-23 yrs. moved all over the place. uses those for our "bill accounts" basically just for bill pay, but still has access.
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