Prepaid cards

sje_111

I thought it would be a good ide to use one of these new prepaid cards to make purcahses online. The idea being to only charge it up with the amount to spend (effectively using it as a buffer between my account and the internet so that anyone who got the details couldn't go on a spending spree at my expense). Trouble is, with the top-up fees they are an expensive way to do this.

I saw the Caxton FX holiday money prepaid card in a news article this morning (they only charge for ATM withdrawal but no top-up fees) - the problem is they are either in Dollars or Euro not sterlling.

Is there a similar card (with no top-up fees) for use in the UK?


Thanks in advance for any advice.

zx2011

The urelife Visa Debit card has no usage fees. It's free to top up by standing order or direct debit. It comes in different colours depending on your age: 12-15 is blue, 16-17 is red and black for 18+ and 21+. The cost of the card is £12.95. You can load the card either by cheque, postal order, debit card or credit card. The minimum is £10 and the maximum is age dependent: £500 (12-15 card), £1000 (16-17) or £3000 (18+, 21+).

http://www.urelife.com

A another option is the Egg Money credit card. It pays 4%(Gross/AER) interest on credit balances and 1% cash back on purchases.

www.egg.com

magicgirl

the cash plus mc has no top up fees if you relad at post office or partner sites. (£2 if you use e-pay). you do have to pay £1 for using the card though...

sje_111

Just a quick update - I think the Urelife card will be the one. I have some questions for them - unfortunately I cannot obtain anything other than a busy tone on their helpline (it's an 0871 number and I cannot find an alternative through saynoto0870.co.uk).

rachael24_2

Let us know when you get in touch with them.

nomoneytoday

If a CC order goes through fraudulently the bank will refund you. Don't know why you want to pay extra to a company to spend your own money?

zx2011

Have you tried email: [EMAIL="enquiries@urelife.co.uk"]enquiries@urelife.co.uk[/EMAIL]

sje_111

As of yesterday (thursday) I still had not been able to speak to their customer services dept. So as suggested I e-mailed them about 3pm and am now waiting for a reply.

To answer the question "Don't know why you want to pay extra to a company to spend your own money": the hassle involved in getting recompense can be considerable, (I know people this has happened to and it took weeks to get the money back and plenty of suspicion on the part of their bank), if I can pay a one-off fee of £12.50 and fee-free thereafter, I think that's a small price to pay for the peace of mind.

sje_111

Still I have no response from Urelife customer services. I gave up on the phone number and still have no reply from my e-mail enquiry, (I realise this was the bank holiday weekend but their system does not even send out an acknowledgement reply), so I think I'll give this one up. If I find any reasonable alternative I'll post it.

Thanks to all who replied to my original post.

smithja

The cards are issued on behalf of Alliance and Leicester Commercial Banking division, I got this from their website and I presume they should be able to tell you why you cannot get through to urelife and give you a locational telephone number.

Business Prepaid Card

Phone: 0800 02 0304

• Lines are open: 9am to 5pm Monday - Friday
• Calls from UK Landlines are free. Mobile charges

I am guessing they have been inundated with applications given the cards double as proof of age, even the card numbers differentiate your age band so online retaliers and gambling sites etc can tell how old you are!

Hope this is of help.

James

sje_111

Thanks for the suggestions - I have decided to shelve the idea due to the lack of response from Urelife. No reply to my e-mail after a week - obviously their customer "service"? is non-existent.

I did not try the A&L contact - if Urelife cannot reply to an e-mail or answer the phone, then I have serious doubts as to their ability to function reliably for anything.