Prepaid Debit Card Reviews, Complaints, Etc

Tag: new years resolution

  • TD Go Prepaid Visa Card Review (Independent)

    TD Go Prepaid Visa Card Review (Independent)

    Welcome to our site! Our editors have been covering the credit and debit card space for a total of 30+ years and we are proud to have been featured by the Wall Street Journal, among other publications But your input is invaluable and we’d love to have your opinion on the TD Bank Go Visa prepaid debit card (see below- this site is powered by you)!

    Please note that this 2018 review is outdated and is only kept for historical reasons. Please read our updated review of the TD Bank Go Visa Card here (that is in a better visual format).

    If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to teach your teenager how to better manage money, TD Bank wants to help. A few years back, TD Bank, one of the ten largest banks in the U.S., announced the release of the Visa TD Go Card a few years back (when we first reviewed this card offer), its first foray into the prepaid debit card market.

    TD Bank’s new prepaid card is aimed at helping parents teach their teenagers how to spend money wisely, albeit in a way that offers a sturdy safety net.

    “The development of smart spending habits is a journey and many parents want to offer teens a gradual path to increasing fiscal freedom,” says Tami Farrow, Senior Vice President and head of retail deposit payments for TD Bank. “With the launch of the TD Go Card, TD Bank is offering parents a convenient and safe environment to get money to their teens and an easy way to monitor spending.”

    New Popular No Fee Visa Debit Card (works like the TD prepaid card but with less fees):

    Chime is a new type of bank account designed to help people lead healthier financial lives and automate their savings (people with poor credit can apply too as there is no credit check). With Chime, you get a free Chime Visa Debit Card (a real debit card, not a prepaid debit card which usually have a lot more fees).

    Chime can be managed entirely from your smartphone. No overdraft fees. No minimum balance. No monthly service fees. No transfer fees. Over 38,000 fee-free ATMs, plus 30,000+ cash-back locations.

    And for a limited time, earn a Cash referral bonus of $50 when you tell your friends and family members about Chime and they sign up (and they’ll earn $50 too)- details within the app after you apply! Click for more info.- you can apply online in just 2 mins with no obligation. Start by simply entering your email address and clicking “Get Started”– over 3 million customers couldn’t be wrong. 🙂 (Ad Link)

    Here’s how the TD Bank prepaid card works. Parents can purchase the TD Bank Go Card online and fund it initially with a minimum of $20 and a maximum of $1,000.

    Once the card is activated, which is partnered with Visa Buxx, parents have the ability to monitor how their child uses the card online and can also receive text and email alerts account balances, transactions and so-called “adult-oriented” purchases.

    The TD Bank Go Reloadable Prepaid Visa Card (aka TD Teen Card) is by no means the first to market itself as a learning tool. Companies like SpendSmart offer prepaid cards designed with many of the same features as TD Bank’s new prepaid card. More infamously, celebrities like Justin Beiber have attached their names to prepaid debit cards meant to attract teens.

    One thing parents and teens who opt to get a TD Go Card might learn is that using a prepaid debit card can sometimes be pricey. Depending on how a teen uses the card, the fees it charges can add up.

    There is a $4.95 charge for purchasing the card initially and there’s a $1.00 charge to load it using either a debit or credit card (direct deposit is free).

    Withdrawals from a TD Bank ATM are free, although taking money out of a non-TD Bank ATM costs $3.00, as does a balance inquiry at a non-TD ATM.

    Requesting a paper account statement runs $5.00  and there is a $2.50 charge if the card EACH MONTH if not used for 12 months.

    Go Visa Card Features:

    24/7 access lets you easily spend, load and track your money
    Set up transaction alerts, check your balance, reload your card on the go, and more with the TD Alerts app
    Helps you budget – you can only spend what you put on your card.

    How to Load Funds:

    Load funds online* 24/7 using your TD Bank Debit or Credit Card
    Direct deposit any amount from your paycheck
    Deposit cash or checks or transfer funds from your TD Bank checking or savings account at any TD Bank

    How to Open:

    Bring $25 cash – no TD Bank account needed – or transfer $25 from your TD Bank checking or savings account
    Bring your Social Security number and a valid ID (driver’s license, passport or state-issued)

    Monthly fee is $5.99*

    Per purchase $0

    ATM cash withdrawals:

    $0 in-network
    $3.00 out-of-network

    Reload Fee: $0

    Is the TD Go Prepaid Card Good? (Summary):

    Please note that this 2018 review is outdated and is only kept for historical reasons. Please read our updated review of the TD Bank Go Visa Card here (that is in a better visual format).

    The TD Go Card is a good card if you are an existing customer- the fees are definitely low. It’s also a good option if you are looking for a teen card for allowances. But the TD Go Card is not a great option for a general prepaid card.

    Click here to search for the prepaid debit cards with different benefits than the TD Card (and at least in one case, lower fees) – read reviews and apply online in mins.

    One lower fee card option than the TD Bank Go reloadable card is the new No Fee Chime Visa Debit Card, (Ad Link) which can managed entirely from your smartphone and charges no overdraft fees, no monthly service fees and no transfer fees. No minimum balance is required and Chime features over 38,000 fee-free MoneyPass® and Visa Plus Alliance ATMs (there is a map of all fee-free ATM’s in the app).

    This is the best and cheapest alternative to prepaid cards we have seen since we started reviewing prepaid cards over 5 years ago. And for a limited time, earn a Cash referral bonus of $50 when you tell your friends and family members about Chime and they sign up (and they’ll earn $50 too)- details within the app after you apply! Click for more info.- you can apply online in just 2 mins with no obligation- start by simply entering your email and clicking Get Started– over 3 million customers couldn’t be wrong. 🙂

    Finally, be sure to read customer reviews (complaints and praises) of the TD Bank Go Visa Card below and post your negative or positive review!

    Related Prepaid Card to Consider:

    The TD  Connect reloadable prepaid visa card is  offering (for adults- not teens). Read our full TD Prepaid Connet Card Review by clicking here. Please note that anyone can apply for this card – no TD Bank account needed.

    Editorial Note!:
    “The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned, and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, including this review and the reviews written by actual cardholders below.”

  • New Year, New Credit Score

    New Year, New Credit Score

    If you’re like millions of other Americans, you began 2015 with at least one resolution to better yourself. Nearly half of us routinely begin January with some sort of commitment to self-improvement, usually to lose weight or perhaps establish a new credit score. Making the resolution is the easy part. Research out of the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, however, shows just how difficult it can be to maintain those good intentions.[pullquote_right] Fully a quarter of Americans don’t last one week with their new habits, and after six months just 46 percent of people maintain committed to their resolutions.[/pullquote_right] Overall, less than 10 percent are able to pull off a permanent change.

    Still, just because you haven’t been able to transition from eating burgers to tofu doesn’t mean you can’t take other steps to make 2015 better than 2014. As a start, don’t give up on that resolution to establish a new credit score. Doing so will improve your overall financial health significantly by convincing mortgage and auto loan companies to offer you their best interest rates. Here are a few tips to make 2015 the year of your new and improved credit score.

    Don’t run up that balance If you went on a spending spree over the holidays, now is the time to take a sober look at your credit card accounts and get to work paying them down. Thirty percent of the popular and widely-used FICO credit scores are determined by an analysis of how much you owe on those accounts. Ideal is a so-called credit utilization of just ten percent, which means that your balance is ten percent or less of the total credit available to you.

    Always be on time Even more important than maintaining a modest credit utilization is simply paying your bills on time. Fully 35 percent of a FICO score is determined by your history of making timely payments on your bills.

    Get out the magnifying glass Nobody is perfect, including the companies that compile the credit reports that are used to calculate credit scores. Take advantage of your right to view a free copy of your credit report and take the many hours required to sift through it to find Cute little boy is playing with magnifier
    mistakes that might be harming your score. If you do find mistakes – like accounts that aren’t yours or charges you never made – dispute those errors with the credit reporting companies.

    Minimize applying for new standard/prime credit cards Another red flag for credit reporting companies is when people apply for more credit. If you already have pretty good credit and credit cards that you can use, avoid generating any unnessecary credit score dings by holding off applying for any new credit cards.

    Now, if your score is currently very low, or if you are trying to build a fresh new score, the tips are a bit different.

    Tips for Building Low / New Credit Scores

    Apply for store and department store credit cards  These are typically easier to get than standard credit cards and do not require as high a credit score for approval. They can offer perks and discounts at your favorite stores and they will report to the credit bureaus.

    Apply for a secured credit card  These cards are also easier to get, although there are typically fees associated with secured credit cards.  But, they can help to establish or build up a low credit score.  And when you start using these cards, always pay on time.  We offer a list of some of the top secured cards on this site.  If you are in the market for one, check them out.

    Whether you are in the market for the best mortgage rate you can find or trying to rebuild your credit, knowing your credit score and what is on your credit report is a very healthy exercise that will help improve your overall financial fitness.

Prepaid Debit Card Reviews, Complaints, Etc