Best pre paid card for USA?

sophieschoice

And by 'best' I mean the one most widely accepted.
The two I favour (Fairfax and Caxton) both have reviews saying not all places accept them in Florida which would mean having to keep going to ATM's to get cash from them out.
Reviews anyone please?

NiftyDigits

sophieschoice wrote: »

And by 'best' I mean the one most widely accepted.
The two I favour (Fairfax and Caxton) both have reviews saying not all places accept them in Florida which would mean having to keep going to ATM's to get cash from them out.
Reviews anyone please?

One is Mastercard and the other Visa. If you have a problem with both, you are stuck.
Clarity card for you?

sophieschoice

Is Clarity a pre-pay card?
We just want to put $5000 on a card and spend it as we go along for food, fuel etc.

dzug1

No - Clarity is a credit card that you'd pay off when you got home.

I wonder if the problems reported are due to the merchant mistaking what card it is and processing it as a credit card when it should be a debit card (or vice versa - I don't know how it should be treated). There's no reason for them not to accept it.

Car rental may be an exception - they may 'reserve' much of the money on it against damage, etc

mcfisco

sophieschoice wrote: »

Is Clarity a pre-pay card?
We just want to put $5000 on a card and spend it as we go along for food, fuel etc.

Why not put $2.5k on each one if you're concerned you may have issues in some places?
I think either will work fine though

sophieschoice

Car rental, villa, hotels, park tickets all bought it's just for spending money. I think I'll chance the Caxton because there's no charge for ATM use.

mcfisco

I'd use a credit card for the car rental for the reason stated above

sophieschoice

I think it's already paid for but if not I'll use a cc. Thanks.

Doshwaster

The only time I've had problem with the Caxton card is on checkut terminals where you are asked "debit or credit?". Even though the card is a pre-paid debit card you still need to use the credit option.

Also remember that Chip and PIN doesn't work in the US so you'll have to sign the receipts (even though they almost never check the signature)

For hotel and car hire I would always use a credit card rather than pre-paid debit. The Caxton website has some good tips: http://www.caxtonfx.com/currency-cards/currency-cards-for-you/#top-travel-tips

NiftyDigits

sophieschoice wrote: »

Car rental, villa, hotels, park tickets all bought it's just for spending money. I think I'll chance the Caxton because there's no charge for ATM use.

Don't do it.

NiftyDigits

sophieschoice wrote: »

I think it's already paid for but if not I'll use a cc. Thanks.

If you are going to use a CC, then use the Clarity.

Certainly wouldn't put US$5k on a single Prepaid card. That would be 'dumb'.

If you must have a Prepaid card, consider the International GBP £ Travellers Cashcard. Better value than the Caxton and if you lose the main card, you'll have the spare card to hand to which they can transfer the balance.
No ATM charges, just like Caxton. Total charges (approx.) are 1.85% in comparison to Caxton's 2.75%. Over US$5000, that a possible loss of US$45

In addition, if you intend to do more spending and large cash withdrawals, consider the Kalixa Pay using their Promo Code to waiver the card issue fee.

Personally, I would get myself an account with Metro Bank or N&P. No charges at all. Up to US$137.50 more to spend.