Prepaid Cards

monsieur_epargnant

I've been tracking the costs/charges for each of them and I hope the following list will be useful to someone else at took ages!

In order of what i considered the worst to the best in terms of charges:

17) TheUniqueCard Mastercard- £9.95 (2 cards £19.90) - monthly £5.95 - plus 5.95 after 120 days inactivity - transactions £1.50 - topups free at Post Office and £2 at e-Pay
topup £100 - Free at Post Office - £2 at e-Pay outlets
transactions (1x £50, 2x £20 and 1x £10) - £6
TOTAL COST of 1 card using above example and topup at Post Office= £21.90

16) Confetti Maestro - £15.00 - NO monthly fee - transactions free - topups £0-100 = £2.00, £100.01+ = £1 per £50 (or at the Post Office a flat rate of £2.00)
topup £100 = £2.00
transactions - free
TOTAL = £17.00 (this wedding specific card also incorporates a wedding list)

15) Oakham Maestro- £9.50 (2nd card free) - monthly fee £4.50 - transactions free - topups bacs free - postoffice £1 - Paypoint 3%
topup £100 - £1 at Post Office - £3 at PayPoint
transactions - free
TOTAL £15

14) Cashplus Mastercard- £9.95 (2 cards £19.90) - £4.95 monthly fee!! (ActivePlus) OR transactions £1(FlexiPlus) - plus 4.95 if no transactions for 120 days - topups free
topup £100 - Free from Post Office or £2 at e-Pay retail outlets
transactions - no charge with ActivePlus - £4 with FlexiPlus
TOTAL ActivePlus - £14.90 - Flexiplus - £13.95 (plus apparently this card gives you purchase protection) can anyone confirm the location of this?

13) Credecard Maestro- £10.00 (2 cards £16.00)- monthly fee £2 - transaction fee 25p - topups free except paypoint £1
topup £100 - Free BACS - PayPoint £1
transactions - £1
TOTAL £13

12) Splash Plastic Maestro - £5.00 - NO monthly fee ANNUAL fee £4.95 - Transactions 2.5% - topups 30p per £10 (free by BACS)
Topup £100 - £3.00
Transactions (£1.25+ £0.50+ £0.50+ £0.25) = £2.50
TOTAL = £12.95 (annual fee on this card changes it's position long-term)

11) Justcashcard Maestro- £7.95 (2 cards £15.90) - £3.95 monthly fee - transactions free - topups Post Office 75p - PayPoint/online -85p-3%
topup £100 - 75p at Post Office - £3 PayPoint
transactions - free
TOTAL £12.65

9) Quidity Maestro- £5.00 - NO monthly fee annual £4.95 - Transactions 2.95% fee - topups Post Office free - BACS free - PayPoint 3%
topup £100 - Free at Post Office/BACS - Paypoint £3
transactions - (£1.48+ £0.59+ £0.59+ £0.30) - £2.96
TOTAL £12.91 (note ANNUAL fee changes this card's position long-term)

9) Virgin Mastercard- £9.95 (2 cards £15.90) - NO monthly/annual fees - transactions 2.95% - topups postoffice/BACS free - paypoint 2.75%
topup £100 - free at Post Office/BACS - PayPoint £2.75
transactions - £2.96
TOTAL £12.91

8) Breadcard Maestro- £10.00 (2 cards £20.00) - NO monthly fee - transaction fee 2% - topups 25p except paypoint £1
topup £100 - 25p BACS - £1 PayPoint
transactions - (£1.00+ £0.40+ £0.40+ £0.20) - £2
TOTAL £12.25 (using BACS as not sure of Post Office topup)

7) Ministry of Sound Maestro - £9.99 (additional fee for user defined image) - NO monthly fee - transaction fee £0.20 - topups free
topup £100 - free
transactions - £1.00
TOTAL = £10.99 (PLUS you get an MP3 to download every 10 purchases)

6) Club 18-30 Maestro - £8.95 (additional fee for user defined image) - NO monthly fee - transactions free - toups upto £20 = £0.85, £20.01-£30.00 = £1.00, £30.01-£50.00 = £1.50, £50.01-£100.00 = £2.00, £100.01-£200.00 = £3.00, £200.01+ 3% (phew!!)
topup £100 = £2.00
transactions - free
TOTAL = £10.95

5) Talksport Maestro- £9.95 - NO monthly/annual fee - transactions free - topups online/paypoint 3% - Post Office 75p
topup £100 - Post Office 75p - Online/Paypoint £3
transactions - free
TOTAL £10.70

4) Extremecred Maestro- £8.95 (2 cards £17.90) - NO monthly/annual fee - transactions free - topups online/paypoint 3% - Post Office 70p
topup £100 - Post Office 70p - Online/Paypoint £3
transactions - free
TOTAL £9.65

3) On-X Maestro- £6.99 (2 cards £13.98) - NO monthly fee - transaction 50p - topups postoffice/online 50p
topup £100 - 50p at Post Office/Online (that's right no local retailers top this one up)
transactions - £2
TOTAL £9.49

2) TheSun Mastercard- £6.49 (2 cards £6.49) less £5 promotional offer- £4.99 with Pay Monthly OR no fee Pay as you GO - transactions free (PM) OR 2.95% (min 50p max £1.50) PAYG - topups BACS/Bank free - 3% PayPoint
topup £100 - BACS/Bank free - £3 at PayPoint
transactions - with Pay Monthly card free - with PAYG card - (£1.48+ £0.59+ £0.59+ £0.50) - £3.06
TOTAL £9.55 (plus £5 back with current promotion) using BACS/Bank as no Post Office payments

1) 3V Visa- ONLINE purchases only - free - £1.00 monthly fee with credit on the card - transactions free - topups £20 free - £30-£100 = £2 fee - £110-£200 = £3.50
topup £100 - free if done in £20's - £2 at PayZone
transactions - free
TOTAL £3.00

AND THE SAME LIST (less the On-X card) in order of worst to best using e-Pay, PayPoint and Payzone retailers:

16) TheUniqueCard Mastercard- topping up at e-Pay £23.90
14) Oakham Maestro- PayPoint £17
14) Confetti - £17
13) Cashplus Mastercard- ActivePlus £16.90 Flexiplus £15.95
12) Quidity Maestro- £15.91
11) Virgin Mastercard- £15
10) Justcashcard Maestro- £14.90
8) Credecard Maestro- £13
8) Breadcard Maestro- £13
6) Splash Plastic - £12.95
6) Talksport Maestro- £12.95
5) Extremecred Maestro- 11.95
4) Ministry of Sound - £10.99 (can anyone confirm that PayPoint topups are free on this card?)
3) Club 18-30 - £10.95
2) TheSun Mastercard- PM 11.05 - PAYG £7.99 (don't forget current £5 back offer which then places this PAYG card at No. 1)
1) 3V Visa- £5.00 (if topped up in one go or £3.00 if you do them in multiples of £20)

tigerfeet2006

Hi and thanks for all the effort you have put in. I don't suppose you know which are Mastercard etc.

cinnabar

monsieur_epargnant wrote: »

I've been tracking the costs/charges for each of them and I hope the following list will be useful to someone else at took ages!

...11) Cashplus - £9.95 (2 cards £19.90) - £4.95 monthly fee!! plus 4.95 if no transactions for 120 days - transactions £1 - topups free...

The Cashplus is £4.95/month with free transactions (the default) or no monthly fee and £1.00/transaction, not both.

I think a big part of the decision is whether you're happy to have a Maestro card or want Mastercard branding. I've gone for the Cashplus (waiting for it to arrive) as I have a Visa Electron card which is adequate for most purposes, but the few places that don't take Electron don't seem to take Maestro either.

orangemollie

Info on Car Hire on Prepaid Cards

http://www.which-prepaid-card.co.uk/car-hire/Using-prepaid-card-hire-a-car.html

Richard_S

Hi orangemollie,

Thanks for that, we've not been able to use our pre-paid card for car hire abroad, and I did wonder if it was worth contacting the issuer to see if there was any way it could be done.

We use a Titanium Cash Plus Mastercard but I don't know if it's the same one as referred to in the link; we applied for it at one of the Money Shop outlets.

Regards

Richard

rog2

Richard_S wrote: »

We use a Titanium Cash Plus Mastercard

Now that is really posh, Richard. :rotfl: :rotfl:

NekoZombie

monsieur_epargnant wrote: »

I've been tracking the costs/charges for each of them and I hope the following list will be useful to someone else at took ages!

In order of what i considered the worst to the best in terms of charges:
11) Cashplus - £9.95 (2 cards £19.90) - £4.95 monthly fee!! (ActivePlus) OR transactions £1(FlexiPlus) - plus 4.95 if no transactions for 120 days - topups free
topup £100 - Free
transactions - no charge with ActivePlus - £4 with FlexiPlus
TOTAL ActivePlus - £14.90 - Flexiplus - £13.95

Thanks for the above - very interesting. Should note though that CashPlus is the only pre-paid Mastercard in the UK that offers the same protection on transactions as you would usually get with a traditional credit card. For example of you book a holiday, and then the operator goes bust, you would be able to claim all of your loss from Cashplus. With all other cards on the list you would end up loosing the money.

In addition on the flexiplus option, the charge is only a £1 per transaction. I use mine once every couple of months to avoid having to pay the £4.95 fee after 120 days if inactivity. In 2007 I paid £9.95 for the card, and probably about £10.00 in fees. 2008 it will probably be a total of £5 in fees (£1 every 2 1/2 months). I'm more than happy to pay that for the security of a card that is accepted far more often than Maestro, with the insurance of knowing that if something goes wrong with my purchase I can claim the money back. Remember we no longer pay interest on outstanding credit (and I shudder to think how much that was costing me).

Richard_S

rog2 wrote: »

Now that is really posh, Richard. :rotfl: :rotfl:

Hi Rog,

It's what we fondly refer to as our PPCC (Poor Person's Credit Card):D .

Whenever I take it out of my wallet it shouts "bankrupt alert".:eek:

rog2

Richard_S wrote: »

Hi Rog,

It's what we fondly refer to as our PPCC (Poor Person's Credit Card):D .

Whenever I take it out of my wallet it shouts "bankrupt alert".:eek:

I only have the cashplus 'Gold' Mastercard - I have only had one 'comment' - at a hotel, when the receptionist said 'Oh that's a new one - haven't seen one like that before.' I refrained from the obvious comments. :rotfl: :rotfl:

NekoZombie

rog2 wrote: »

I only have the cashplus 'Gold' Mastercard - I have only had one 'comment' - at a hotel, when the receptionist said 'Oh that's a new one - haven't seen one like that before.' I refrained from the obvious comments. :rotfl: :rotfl:

I had that when I used my Electron card to pay for dinner with friends. One said, 'oh , I bank with the Co-op too but my card doesn't look like that'. :rolleyes: