Prepaid Cards Guide Discussion Area

There's a prepaid cashback debit card that Martin hasn't mentioned yet, but is definitely worth a look if you're a householder. It gives you a 5% cashback on everything you buy, in-store and online, at a whole range of shops such as Sainsbury's, Argos, Boots, Comet, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins and loads more. You can even get 5% cashback on fuel at Sainsbury's filling stations. And you can use it anywhere else that accepts MasterCard transactions, though without the 5% cashback.

It's not for everyone, though, as you have to have to be a customer of Utility Warehouse to qualify for a card. If you are a customer, this is how it works. There's an application fee of £9.99 per card (you can have up to 5 for different family members, as long as they are 13 or older) and a monthly charge of £1, which is waived for the first 6 months. There is also a 35p charge whenever you top up your card, which can be done by phone, online or automatically (either every month or whenever your balance drops below a chosen amount).

But it seems, from reading Martin's article, that these charges compare very favourably with other prepaid cards - plus you get the 5% cashback from lots of retailers, so you should be able to get back far more than you pay out in charges. The cashback is credited to your monthly bill with Utility Warehouse, so you can't spend it but instead it's used to reduce you energy and telecoms bill. So it could be well worth while switching your phone, broadband, mobile, gas or electricity to Utility Warehouse in order to get a cashback card - and reduce your utility bills.

If you want a quick link, go to the Referrers Board and search for Cashback Prepaid debit card.

There is also the Travel Money Card from the Post Office which is usable where an Electron card is accepted.

Celia

Quentin wrote: »

2) Although the card is branded as a mastercard, there is no protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme which is not applicable to the card, and no other compensation schemes exist to cover losses claimed in connection with the Card.

You get exactly the same ability to do a charge back with Mastercard's of all types (just not Maestro) as you do with a Visa card, debit or credit. So if a supplier goes bust and you used any Mastercard you can apply for a chargeback on the basis that the contract was never fulfilled. It is exactly the basis on which Cashplus offer "section 75 like" protection.

James

This has nothing to do with the FSCS, it is Mastercard's scheme for chargebacks (and card acceptance) and is never mentioned in the T&C's of any agreement. Look at one for say a current account with a Visa debit card it does not say "you can ask for a charge back if...". Most people in the bank themselves wont know what you are talking about, indeed Matrin has started a campagin to highlight the issue.

Any Visa or Mastercard branded card whether prepaid, credit, or debit card transaction is subject to a possible chargeback at the customers request.

In fact reading through them, you can also do a chargeback on a Masetro card for good not deliverred (which is not common knowledge at all) if it was placed though e-commerce, I assume that means on-line.