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Hi. My daughter is an 8th grader in a Jewish day school who is going on a two week trip to Israel in 3 weeks. The school recommends that for spending money you arrange for your bank to give your child a MC or Visa debit card for temporary use with about $200-300 on it. If you can't do that they suggest prepaid debit cards, they do not want kids bringing travelers' checks nor cash. I nor my wife have never been to that part of the world and the only times we have been off the North American continent (i.e. outside of the US, Canada or Mexico) is a trip to London in 2003 and one to Tahiti (that my wife won as first prize in a raffle at her job when she worked for an airline) in 2000. My wife also went to Europe in high school on a trip, but that was in the 1980s when you simply got travelers' checks.
However, the credit union we belong to will not do this for anyone under 16 and some banks that will want us to have an account with $1000 or more there for them to do it. The school suggests in that scenario to get a prepaid debit card. I have only seen 3 options, and they seem more for someone who wants a permanent refillable debit card:
Netspend: Looks like the best option (as time is getting close and you can go to CVS or Walgreens to get it as opposed to waiting for it to be sent to you), but has fees for every transaction and even to close the account, which I would be doing 2 months from now tops.
Walmart/Green Dot: Less fees than Netspend (but still many), but it doesn't appear they let you authorize a 13-17 year old to use it. This was the card the school recommended and they said just do it in your name and have your child use it and no one will know. I know these cards don't have the actual names on it, but is there any risks or legal issues in doing that?
Bluebird by AMEX: The least fees, but only option to get in and store and not wait to be shipped is Wal-Mart and not all Walmarts have them. Then it is a special limited "temporary" card while you wait for your "real" one with all the full benefits. And you can only use it in places that take American Express (though it appears it is as easy as the others to take cash out of an ATM).
I need to get one of these by March 12 (the school is asking that we give them her passport and the debit card to hold on the 13th) and she will be returning on April 6 so again I only need this for 1-2 months and then intend to close it. Will any of the above work? Is there a better option that is purely temporary? Please let me know ASAP, thanks!
Do you have a credit card? Can you not just get a second card for your daughter? There are some banks that offer a special student checking account for high schoolers. I assume there would be a debit card attached to that account. Other than that, I would just open an account and deposit 1000 dollars and then close it out a month after the trip. A lot of international places do not accept AMEX and I would think that a prepaid debit card is almost as unsafe as carrying around cash. Not sure if you can dispute charges on it if it got stolen. Is your daughter a student at SS?
My daughter is an 8th grader in a Jewish day school who is going on a two week trip to Israel in 3 weeks.
Go to Amazon and order her a money belt. Many locations don't take credit/debit cards and finding a ATM that takes a US one is a pain. Give her $500 in cash and have her convert $200 to NIS at the airport. The rest keep in small bills as depending where she is going might take dollars.
Keep in mind that putting a few hundred dollars on an American debit card doesn't directly translate directly to NIS. There will be multiple fees deducted (the amount is decided by each individual bank it passes through from Israel to the US) and your daughter won't know about it (and how much she actually has) until it's too late.
Good advice from Pruzhany. Your daughter will need cash and the school should have known better. I'm sure most everything is covered on the trip, but if she wants to pick up some souvenirs, she'll need some spending money. Yeah, there will be fees in using a debit card. Silly idea.
Do you have a credit card? Can you not just get a second card for your daughter? There are some banks that offer a special student checking account for high schoolers. I assume there would be a debit card attached to that account. Other than that, I would just open an account and deposit 1000 dollars and then close it out a month after the trip. A lot of international places do not accept AMEX and I would think that a prepaid debit card is almost as unsafe as carrying around cash. Not sure if you can dispute charges on it if it got stolen. Is your daughter a student at SS?
Tell her not to spend too much at Hadaya
Unfortunately our credit is kind of shot at the moment and the few cards we have are the kind that won't let you do it. As for the money belt, the school doesn't mind if you get cash there, but doesn't want you to bring any, they want you to have the debit card.
However, I found out the best option is the AAA Travel Visa Debit Card. They let you add a 13 year old on it, much less fees than NetSpend or WalMart/Green Dot, and you don't have to be a AAA member to get one (they simply charge you $2 more for the card if you are not one). You can go to any AAA office and get it. So that is what we are going to do, thanks everyone!
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