Prepaid Credit Cards

tomcleverly
tomcleverly Posts: 7 Forumite
in Credit cards
Does anyone know of a prepaid mastercard/visa/maestro card which does not require identification documents?

Comments

  • Willing2Learn
    Willing2Learn Posts: 6,294 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post Photogenic
    I may be wrong, but I believe that prepaid cards allow you to spend with unverified identification, but with a restricted usage terms
    I work within the voluntary sector, supporting vulnerable people to rebuild their lives.

    I love my job

    :smiley:
  • The_Urbanite
    The_Urbanite Posts: 359 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    tomcleverly wrote: »
    Does anyone know of a prepaid mastercard/visa/maestro card which does not require identification documents?

    There are still a few preloaded Mastercards knocking around in high street stores. A few variants have vanished over the last few months.
  • tomcleverly
    tomcleverly Posts: 7 Forumite
    Thanks both of you. Any ideas where I might get one? When you say "high street stores", I am out in the sticks, sounds like something only available in big cities?
    Would be very grateful for any tips on where to go looking. i did a lot of searching online, Mastercard's own website claims they do do them, but the long list of suggested providers all insist on ID and/or credit checks. Half a day looking and no progress :(
  • Fingerbobs
    Fingerbobs Posts: 1,640 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    edited 13 October 2019 at 10:18PM
    tomcleverly wrote: »
    Thanks both of you. Any ideas where I might get one? When you say "high street stores", I am out in the sticks, sounds like something only available in big cities?
    Would be very grateful for any tips on where to go looking. i did a lot of searching online, Mastercard's own website claims they do do them, but the long list of suggested providers all insist on ID and/or credit checks. Half a day looking and no progress :(
    I've seen them very recently for sale in small town-centre branches of Boots, Tesco and Morrisons. I know that Wilko and Sainsbury's have also sold them in the past, but I don't often go in those shops so have no recent knowledge.
    Boots and Tesco only carry £25 and £50 values, in both Visa and MasterCard formats. Morrisons also has £100 ones, but MasterCard only I think.

    Edit: Just remembered WHSmith also sells them, again I believe only £25 and £50 values. I've only seen £100 ones in Morrisons.
  • tomcleverly
    tomcleverly Posts: 7 Forumite
    Blimey, what confuses me is an entire DAY of searching online (and I am pretty good at researching online!) couldn't come up with a single offering of any such thing! The only things I could find were Monese type things (as recommended on MSE), nothing where cash could be used to purchase one. Maybe I need to get my boots on and find a town with those shops in and go look the old fashioned way! Thanks very much
  • The_Urbanite
    The_Urbanite Posts: 359 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    edited 14 October 2019 at 7:24PM
    Fingerbobs wrote: »
    I've seen them very recently for sale in small town-centre branches of Boots, Tesco and Morrisons. I know that Wilko and Sainsbury's have also sold them in the past, but I don't often go in those shops so have no recent knowledge.
    Boots and Tesco only carry £25 and £50 values, in both Visa and MasterCard formats. Morrisons also has £100 ones, but MasterCard only I think.

    Edit: Just remembered WHSmith also sells them, again I believe only £25 and £50 values. I've only seen £100 ones in Morrisons.


    Boots, Tesco and Morrisons are the three shops where those prepaid cards completely and utterly vanished a few months ago, at least in this part of the world! Interesting to hear that they're still being sold elsewhere!

    Sainsburys, Wilko and WHSmith are the only places I know of that do them now. Asda and Clinton Cards might be worth a look but availability has been hit and miss recently.


    All that said, these cards are problematic - they have no chip and so many shops have a problem with swiping. tomcleverly, depending on your intended use of the card there might be better products on the market that suit your needs that could be suggested.
  • Fingerbobs
    Fingerbobs Posts: 1,640 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    edited 14 October 2019 at 11:02PM
    The_Urbanite wrote: »
    All that said, these cards are problematic - they have no chip and so many shops have a problem with swiping. tomcleverly, depending on your intended use of the card there might be better products on the market that suit your needs that could be suggested.

    Absoultely agree 100% with this. I would certainly not recommend the "supermarket" pre-paid cards, unless you have a specific use in mind and you know they can be used for that purpose.

    Edit: Another place that might be worth looking is Argos, assuming you definitely want one and there isn't a better product for your needs. They used to have them on display in my local branch alongside the Xbox Live vouchers and things, but I don't think they were ever in the catalogue, and again it's a while since I've checked.
  • NoodleDoodleMan
    NoodleDoodleMan Posts: 3,357 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Can I suggest a Caxton FX money card and preload it as required ?

    There are other similar travel cards, however this is the one we use, no issues using or managing it.

    https://www.caxtonfx.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw3JXtBRC8ARIsAEBHg4mnXFsj4lRrKUnPk091C2OgiL688YKQsgMRLnVtJyFsCKOhn_GxskwaArmfEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
  • Fingerbobs
    Fingerbobs Posts: 1,640 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    edited 27 January 2020 at 12:16PM
    The_Urbanite wrote: »
    Boots, Tesco and Morrisons are the three shops where those prepaid cards completely and utterly vanished a few months ago, at least in this part of the world! Interesting to hear that they're still being sold elsewhere!

    Sainsburys, Wilko and WHSmith are the only places I know of that do them now. Asda and Clinton Cards might be worth a look but availability has been hit and miss recently.

    I did a mini survey in my home town at the weekend, and they have indeed now vanished from Boots, Tesco and Morrisons.

    Argos still had a £25 ePay one (MasterCard), but it was the last one on the hook so I don't know if they are in the process of discontinuing them as well.

    WHSmith had Vanilla (MasterCard) ones in £25, £50 and £100 denominations, and plenty in stock.

    Didn't see any Visa ones at all.
  • Gerry1
    Gerry1 Posts: 9,937 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    The Optimum card (formerly Orange Cash) has a restricted version. It does do an identity check; don't know whether this is online or requires documents.
This discussion has been closed.
★ ★ ★ Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 343.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.7K Spending & Discounts
  • 235.3K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 608K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 173.1K Life & Family
  • 247.9K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards