Which pre pay credit card can i get free/

alanwirral

Which pre pay credit card can i get free/

jenniewb

I had a look at these- I have to say, I decided it was worthless getting one- not unless you are either desperate (cannot get a credit, debit or bank transfer to paypal) or are loaded (with cash, drugs omit as preferred!)

I decided the reason it was worthless was because you either have to pay for the card itself, anything from £5 to £15 a year.
Or you have to pay to load up the card, usually either £5 per £100 or a percentage of what you load onto the card.
Or you have to pay to use the card- either £1 a transaction or alot more, or a percentage of what you spend.

It seems that you have to have a spare £20 for getting, loading and using the card-

Get a paypal account- you don't even need a debit card for that, you just need a bank account. Deal with money from there, you can load the account and spend that way- and its not as expensive- paypal do offer a card to load cash on, but again, you do have to pay to get it, and to use it.

Basicly, in answer to your question:

None are free, you cannot get any for free.

shirlsky

I don't think they exist but here is a good place to start

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/prepaid-cards

Alison_c

I was looking at 1 of these actually for a friend of mine who can't get a debit or credit card. I thought it was a pretty good idea and didn't thi8nk it was that expensive when you look at some of the apr's on some credit cards at the moment.

Couldn't find a free one for her though.

TurkishDelight

If you use quidco, use this link first (to put cookie in place) to possibly get back £7.50 http://www.quidco.com/fairfx/ (the card is £10) Not sure if this offer is still valid for a free one... http://www.fairfx.com/matalan-offer

Enterprise_1701C

I've spoken to people that come into the shop to load them up and a lot of them have had their details stolen and use these cards to protect themselves for online purchases. Incidentally, the charge for topping up seems to be the same however much you top up by.

jenniewb

Jane_Blackford wrote: »

I've spoken to people that come into the shop to load them up and a lot of them have had their details stolen and use these cards to protect themselves for online purchases. Incidentally, the charge for topping up seems to be the same however much you top up by.

Depends which card you get- they all vary in some way.

lorweld

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jenniewb

Alison_c wrote: »

I was looking at 1 of these actually for a friend of mine who can't get a debit or credit card. I thought it was a pretty good idea and didn't thi8nk it was that expensive when you look at some of the apr's on some credit cards at the moment.

Couldn't find a free one for her though.

The apr on credit cards only really applies if you don't pay it off in time- don't spend what you don't have and pay off your balance in full and you never see the apr charge and your using the card for free.
The same does not apply to prepay cards which I think is unfair as they are one of the few ways those with no credit cards or not enough money to get a CC or with poor credit rating ...basicly those with little money, can get to buy anything online (unless you use paypal). It seems really bad that they then decide to charge extra just to use the card- and if its not over £50, its quite a big charge when you add it all up in the end.

jenniewb

A few links to a sites which can help compare the cards are:
http://www.what-prepaid-card.co.uk/features/online-prepaid-calculator.html
http://www.money.co.uk/prepaid-cards.htm

althas

I top up at Post Office, it's free

I would suspect you will not find a free one. How else will the company make their money on these, as they don't charge interest on them like a normal card

Just have a chat with your friend to see how they are going to use it. With mine, I have the option of a £4.95 a month fee for unlimited use, or 99p per transaction. Now I pay everything really in cash and only ever use the card for a LARGE transaction or some online. So I pay the 99p per