Prepaid Cards Guide Discussion Area

justinormerod

I signed up online through the Paypal website for their prepaid VISA debit card. (not to be confused with their regular credit card offering).

It cost me £5 to apply for the card. and I don't pay anything to top it up and no transaction fees.

When I had money in my Paypal account I used to wait 7 days for it to transfer into my bank account.

No I just top up my prepaid VISA card with a Paypal payment.

This means I can access my Paypal money within 1 day instead of 7. Okay it means using a card rather than cash but I use thae card to pay for petrol and bills and find it really useful.

I used to hate waiting a week to get hold of the money in my Paypal account.

Another thing worth considering for any eBay traders is that the above method keeps all trace of eBay earnings off of your bank accounts!!!

philoz14

savagej wrote: »

The key there is "we are unable to resolve the dispute" that means we put through a chargeback and it gets declined as it was outside of the scheme rules/we made a mistake/you made a mistake/you waited too long etc. etc. Then they have been unable to resolve the dispute and yes you would be liable. There are rules to chargebacks thats why I posted the link to the merchant rules.

Just wanted to say that savagej seems to have a very good understanding of the whole industry and ALL legal rulings etc. that apply while Quentin seems to just be quoting from one document and assuming that it is gospel.

Recent news stories have shown that companies often write legal documents just to cover their own back which don't actually stand up on closer examination eg. online merchants who say "No returns/refunds available after 7 days" even though the law guarantees 14 days.

It's important to carefully read a company's Ts and Cs as Quentin has, but it's also important to bear in mind that 9 times out of 10 their Ts and Cs are also subject to the Ts and Cs of a higher authority somewhere, whether it's the law, or the service provider (in the case of Mastercard/UW) Where UW's Ts and Cs appear to contradict Mastercard's rules, accept Mastercard's rules, no matter what UW say! Mastercard are higher up the chain and therefore their rules take precedence!

WorriedofSurrey

Hi

I have applied for a cashplus Mastercard as I need to use this for car hire in Spain in the summer. When I book the car hire, do I need to specify the card type or should it be accepted without any problems? (I know I need to get this activated first).

Many thanks
WoS

tummy6

WorriedofSurrey wrote: »

Hi

I have applied for a cashplus Mastercard as I need to use this for car hire in Spain in the summer. When I book the car hire, do I need to specify the card type or should it be accepted without any problems? (I know I need to get this activated first).

Many thanks
WoS

Have Cashplus activate it first, but should be treated as a normal mastercard.

patchas

hi is the farfax card the best one for very small amounts ie only want to pay ryanair when i am lucky enough to get cheep flights is it a sterling card no one seems to mention the ice card ? thanks patchas

Kyresa

tummy6 wrote: »

Have Cashplus activate it first, but should be treated as a normal mastercard.

I thought the car hire companies put a "reserved" an amount on your card though (hence wanting a credit card to automatically debit if there was any problems).

This certainly used to be the case, I think they used to reserve £300 or so!

parisp

Hi can anyone help.I have opened a Next Directory account.In order to confirm my identity i need to pay a £3 deposit on a card.I dont have a bank account so decided to order a BREAD PREPAID MASTERCARD.I was wondering if you can use the card to do this or will they no its prepaid.???

Thanks xx

Nidge

Hi all,

We're wanting to get a gift for some friends of ours who have just had a baby.:beer:
Rather than go down the usual route of "here's some Mothercare/Mamas & Papas etc vouchers" route, we want to give them some money that they can spend where they like, on whatever they like.

We don't want to give cash and vouchers would obviously restrict them to that particular shop, so I was thinking about one the the pre paid currency cards like the ones you get to take abroad.

I'm looking at the Travelex one currently, but does anyone here have any alternative suggestions/ideas?

MSE wrote:

•Travelex Cash Passport. Overall cheapest, but less accepted
The undisputed cheapest way to spend with a prepaid card, is the Travelex Cash Passport. It is free to get one, and spend on in a shop, but charges a fee of 2% to top it up online or via phone. If the account goes unused for twelve months though, there is a £2 monthly charge.

However, despite being the cheapest, a few oddities mean it isn’t the clear-cut top pick. First, you have to top up with at least £100 (or £30 on Thomas Cook/Co-op versions); most prepaid cards have a minimum top up of just £10. Also, the 2% fee eats slightly into your cash.

Second, this is intended as a prepaid card for use overseas, and the versions of the card Travelex most pushes are the Euros and Dollars ones. However, when you click Buy Now on the Travelex website, simply choose to top it up in UK Pounds instead. Yet you must do this EVERY time or you could get hit with exchange rate charges every time you spend.

Lastly, this is accepted wherever Visa Electron is, which means a few less stores than standard Visa or Maestro, though the vast majority of online retailers will take it.
QUICK STATS: Card Issue: £0. Top up: 2% (min £3) Spending: FREE. Cash Withdrawal: £0. Min Load: £100/£30 with travel T Cook/Co-op. Replacement fee: N/A

Maybe cash would just be simpler, but we wanted to give them something that they could use online, offline and in any retailer they wanted to.

Maybe FairFX might have the answer.....

MSE wrote:

•FairFX. The cheapest overall, plus free £5 bonus.
The FairFX* prepaid card, which must be applied for online, charges no spending or foreign 'loading' fees, and can be topped up for free by debit card or bank transfer. Apply via its own website and there's a £9.95 application fee, but the link above takes you through comparison site Moneysupermarket, meaning the fee is waived provided you load more than €10/$20.

Currently if you top-up at least £500 when opening, it'll boost the amount you load by £5. This bonus means the overall exchange rate challenges the top credit cards for overseas spending. When we compared the rates, the method that gave the most bang for your buck changed daily.
However, with FairFx it's the rate on the day you load up, not spend that counts. So if the pound strengthens after you load the card, you will lose out. Though conversely if it weakens you'd gain.

The only cost is €1.50/$2 to withdraw cash from an ATM, less than most credit or debit cards. You get FairFx's own exchange rate, which changes daily but generally beats the other prepaid cards and cash rates (compare it with TravelMoneyMax.com's best).

FairFX Quick Stats. European Load: 0%. Worldwide Load: 0%. Exchange Rate: FairFX's own rate, determined daily. Cash withdrawal fee: €1.50/$2. Currencies: Euros/Dollars. Topping up: Free via Debit card online.

I also found the Post Office Travel Money card, but they charge a fee to load:

0% commission for initial load on euro (€) Card or on US dollar ($) Card.
1.5% commission for initial load on sterling (£) Card, subject to a minimum fee of £3, maximum fee of £50.

It looks like the FairFX may be the way to go as the Moneysupermarket link waives the initial £10 fee.

Although I'm not sure yet how simple it is to get these as a gift for someone else, but it looks like I just apply and then one I receive the card and activate it it's good to go.

I'm sure this doesn't need to be so hard!

£7.50 Quidco on the FairFX card too!

However, I just noticed this.....

FairFX wrote:

A 1.5% charge is made on all usage, ATM or point of sale, using the FairFX Anywhere Card, in the UK, on the internet, or abroad - Anywhere!. There is no additional ATM fee*.

* Some banks or third-party ATM operators abroad and in the UK may charge additional fees for use of their ATMS, but these will be clearly advertised and are charged equally on all cards.

How hard can it be?? :eek:

Rebekah24

I did post yesterday but its vanished!

I want to make an online transaction, shopping less than £30 with a US store.

Would a "bread" prepaid be suitable for this?

Or should I risk using my own card?? - very wary of net shopping

any advise be appriciated

Baldur

Rebekah24 wrote: »

I did post yesterday but its vanished!

You'll find the two threads that you posted on the same topic yesterday HERE and HERE.