Prepaid mastercard/visa?

biffer_2

My Optimum prepaid card started charging a monthly fee:

http://www.myoptimumcard.co.uk/costs/

I've checked out the MSE recommendation for prepaid card and that's Tesco, but they want proof of identity, e.g. drivers license.  That means I have to give my real DOB and other details which I've never had to supply to Optimum.  Prefer to avoid that if I can.

Any recommendations?  I've seen a few cards that fit the bill, but many of them are app based now and I'd prefer something I manage via browser.

thanks.

grumbler

biffer_2 said:

...I've seen a few cards that fit the bill,

Which ones? I thought that such cards don't exist because of the AML&KYC paranoia.

penners324

Hopefully none as it would lead to a lot of fraud

Chino

penners324 said:

it would lead to a lot of fraud

  How so?

biffer_2

grumbler said:

Which ones? I thought that such cards don't exist because of the AML&KYC paranoia.

I think I got a bit confused.  There are definitely ones that don't require proof of address. There may be ones that don't require DOB.  The problem is not that I mind companies knowing my DOB, it's the fact that so many organisations (stupidly) use it as a password (or an element of authentication), and it can be very easy to find.  So I always use a fake one unless there's a legal requirement not to (e.g. insurance).

[Deleted User]

Chino said:

penners324 said:

it would lead to a lot of fraud

  How so?

If you could just apply for pre-paid cards without providing any proof of ID, hiding your real DOB so it doesn't match with the credit agency records etc it would be perfect for money laundering - whack money on the card and someone goes spending it with no traceability to the original launderer 

A company using your DOB as part of security is not storing that on post-it notes on computers or in free text documents on a server freely accessible to the internet. I understand the need for security but hiding a DOB for that is excessive

biffer_2

I always thought laundering was about making the money traceable so it doesn't arouse suspicion.  I'm not sure pushing cash onto and off a card will achieve that, and if it did, then can't you just post cash?  But as for DOB, I've been asked for DOB in a bank, in my opticians at my dentist and in the pharmacist all within earshot of other customers, so yeah they haven't put it on a post-it but they may as well have.

In terms of security, it's simply risk vs convenience, and if I don't consider it inconvenient to store a dozen different fake DOBs I've given to a dozen different companies then that's really my business.  It all goes in the password store anyway, so it's not really adding much effort.

[Deleted User]

The point of money laundering is to get the cash into circulation without raising suspicion. If you remember that big one in Ireland (or maybe a bank of Ireland?) years ago, they actually paid people to feed the (traceable) notes into things like parking meters to get untraceable cash out. 

If you have a pre-paid card without any details like a true DOB and so on, you could pay some druggie or low life to go load it with cash at a post office or whatever, then that card can be used to spend at a shop you own to generate fake income or sell it to someone else and you get cash into circulation without any tracing

The DOB is an aside, fake DOB will eventually catch up with you if it's something serious and as for someone knowing it and being able to use it for fraud, it's unlikely. If you were asked for your DOB and want to hide it, why not just give ID with it on rather than saying out loud? Nobody hangs around opticians and chemists trying to pickup DOB and what if they did - they don't know your name or address or whether you are worth scamming