Prepaid Debit Card Reviews, Complaints, Etc

Tag: prepaid cards

Tips on How to Best Use a Prepaid Reloadable Debit Card

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, CNN, etc. Your input is invaluable and we’d love to have your opinion regarding tips on how to best use a prepaid debit card (see below) – this site is powered by you!

Chime is a new Visa card that is amazingly free (unless you use the card outside of their large ATM network). This is best alternative to a prepaid card that we’ve seen in 5+ years and offers all of the benefits of traditional bank account.

It’s a Visa card and has a lot less fees than the typical prepaid debit card. Also, people with poor credit can apply too as there is no credit check. Chime can be managed entirely from your smartphone. No overdraft fees. No minimum balance. No Chex Sytems. 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. 🙂 (Referral Link)

Prepaid debit cards are big business in the United States. According to Time magazine, consumers used them for (http://business.time.com/2013/08/01/prepaid-debit-cards-a-few-good-ones-to-consider-and-several-to-avoid) $77 billion worth of transactions in 2012. That’s a lot of swiping.

We all know about using them to pay for lunch or a pair of shoes. But have you ever thought about a prepaid card for. Following are some tips on creative ways you can use a prepaid debit card (Visa or MasterCard).

1. A door prize. You want lots of butts in the seats at the community cleanup or the first PTA gathering of the year? Advertise that a $50 prepaid debit card (or a couple of $25 ones) will be given away. Advertise it extensively.

Sure, it would be nice if people would attend such things without coaxing, but be realistic: If someone’s on the fence about attending (“Do I want to get up that early on a Saturday?/Be out that late on a school night?”) then the chance of winning might tip them over into Do The Right Thing territory.

2. An employee incentive. Whether it’s for putting (usable) ideas in the suggestion box or for making it through the holiday crush without losing their minds, your workers might appreciate the chance to get a little something extra.

Do it through a random drawing or as an out-and-out prize for a really smart suggestion. (Note: These are considered taxable income, according to the Internal Revenue Service. But they’re still fun to get.) On a related note, please note that Pex and Bento offer employee prepaid cards for small to medium sized businesses.

3. Help to a relative/friend in need. Sometimes handing over cash feels weird. Giving a prepaid card lets the person you love get what he needs: medicine, a bag of groceries, a tank of gas. Better yet: Slip it under the person’s door or mail it anonymously.

4. Moving expenses. Donna Freedman, who blogs at Surviving and Thriving (http://www.donnafreedman.com), tells us: “When my daughter and son-in-law moved from Seattle to Phoenix, I saw them off with a big bag of snacks and a $300 prepaid gift card for road expenses. I thought the card would be easier to manage than a wad of cash. (It was.)”

5. Kid travel gift. If your pre adolescent or teen is heading cross-country to visit his grandparents or to spend the summer with the noncustodial parent, a prepaid card will let him buy his own snacks and incidentals.

6. Blog giveaway. Want to build subscriber loyalty and get the attention of additional readers? Have a monthly giveaway – and every so often, make it a prepaid debit card. “This is something that we definitely plan on doing for our readers of our website and Facebook page.

With our website name talking specifically about prepaid cards, it just makes sense,” says Shane Tripcony, co-founder of BestPrepaidDebitCards.com. Regular gift cards are popular, too, but not everyone drinks coffee or shops at Target, whereas a prepaid card is good just about anywhere. Heck, I wish I could win one.

7. New grad gift. It can be tough to guess the needs/desires of an 18 or 22-year-old. A prepaid gift card means not just buying power, but choice. It’s up to him whether he spends at a grocery store or at The Gap.

8. Tax refund. The major tax preparers let you have the option of a refund via prepaid debit card. You’ll want to keep a close eye on the fees, but if you’re unbanked or underbanked, you want the refund a little faster or you just want to really manage how you spend your tax refund, this could be the right option.

9. Teacher present. Believe me when I tell you that your kid’s teacher has waaaaay too many mugs already. Please don’t add to that problem. Give a prepaid card because it can be spent at any merchant the teacher chooses. However, I predict at least some of it will be rung up at a bookshop or educational supply store. Teachers are just like that.

This is a short list of potential ways to use a prepaid reloadable debit card. What are some creative ways you have used your prepaid card? We welcome your comments below and would love to hear from you.

September 1, 2019
A Prepaid What? A Guide to Prepaid Debit Cards for 2013

This Page is No Longer Being Updated. Please Click Here to search for our current listings of the best prepaid debit cards.

April 18, 2019

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.”

January 1, 2019

Suze Orman Prepaid Card Discontinued June 30

Celebrity financial advisor, Suze Orman, has urged countless people seeking her money guidance to get a grip and not make a purchase when they could not afford it. It’s the kind of tough love advice that makes for good entertainment, but it’s also not what holders of the Suze Orman prepaid card are being advised to do right now. Instead, customers in possession of the Suze Orman prepaid card are being told to spend, spend, spend.That’s because Orman’s Approved Card, a partnership with Bancorp Bank that was released in early 2012, is suspending operations on July 1. According to a story in The New York Times, holders of the Approved Card recently received a letter from Bancorp Bank urging them to spend whatever money remained in their accounts – anything not spent would be refunded to them.

The disappearance of the Suze Orman prepaid card, which she reportedly launched with $1 million of her own money, is not an isolated case in the once bustling celebrity prepaid card market. Basketball superstar Magic Johnson’s prepaid card will also suspend operations on June 30. Prepaid debit cards backed by the Kardashian sisters, singer Justin Bieber and comedian George Lopez have either been discontinued or are no longer prominently marketing their celebrity backing.

The suspension of Orman’s Approved Card is especially illustrative in understanding why the stampede of celebrity prepaid cards seems to be at an end. Unlike the cards offered by the Kardashians – which charged a whopping $100 to just buy the card, along with a host of other big fees – Orman’s Approved Card charged relatively modest fees, including a $3 account maintenance charge. But even with a more consumer-friendly offering, the economics of Orman’s card clearly didn’t pencil out. “You’re dealing with a lot of customers who have a lot of things go wrong, and they need their money to put milk and bread on the table,” industry consultant Rob Rosenblatt told The New York Times. “Three dollars is a really tough baseline from which to serve customers who are going to be calling a lot.”

Another factor driving celebrity prepaid cards out of the market is competition. Large financial services companies like American Express have unveiled ultra low-fee products like Bluebird and Serve. Bluebird, for instance, charges no activation fee and has no monthly account maintenance charge. Fans of Suze Orman, Justin Bieber and Magic Johnson would have to be unusually devoted to pay unnecessary fees.

June 23, 2014
Bankrate Surveys Prepaid Cards
One indication of the mainstreaming of prepaid debit cards is the amount of attention these once fringe financial products are attracting from the media. The most recent example of that is an in-depth survey of the fee structures of 30 prepaid cards by Bankrate.com, a leading personal finance website.

Released on April 7^th, Bankrate’s analysis of the leading prepaid cards finds a wide range in the types and levels of fees charged. “Not all prepaid cards are created equal,” says Greg McBride, the chief financial analyst for Bankrate. “Some have many fees, some have few; some will waive or reduce monthly fees, others won’t; some permit free in-network ATM withdrawals, others don’t.”

Bankrate’s evaluation of prepaid cards comes in the wake of research earlier this year by the Pew Charitable Trusts that found that even though prepaid cards are rising in popularity, consumer protections remain limited. Which is one reason why analysis of card fees by the likes of Bankrate is so important in order to arm consumers with the information they need to make smart choices.

Among Bankrate’s findings were:
- Activation fees are still common, with over 50 percent of the cards surveyed charging between $2.95 and $9.95.
- Monthly account fees are hard to avoid. Over 80 percent of the cards examined charged some sort of monthly fee, although a third either don’t have one or will waive it if enough money is deposited into an account.
- It’s best to find a card that has an ATM network. Of those that are affiliated with an ATM network, over 60 percent don’t charge for in-network withdrawals. Those that do, charge between $1 and $2.50 per transaction.
- Checking your account balance at an ATM is a bad idea. Almost 80 percent of the cards Bankrate looked at charge a fee, as high as $3, for this basic information.
- Paying your bills is free. None of the 30 cards Bankrate looked at charged a fee for their bill pay function.
- Find another card if yours charges a point of sale fee. These are a rarity now, with only 17 percent charging for PIN transactions and 7 percent for signature purchases.
April 9, 2014
New Bank of America Checking Account To Compete With Prepaid Cards

A new Bank of America checking account will compete for the same customers who are increasingly turning to prepaid cards.

Announced in early March, Bank of America’s new “Safe Balance” account includes a $4.95 monthly fee that cannot be waived. Although the new accounts allow users to utilize online banking and automatic bill pay, customers cannot write paper checks. Importantly, though, the new Bank of America checking account does not charge customers unpopular and expensive overdraft fees. Instead of overdraft charges, those who opt to use Safe Balance simply won’t be able to make debit card purchases or pay bills online if there are insufficient funds in their account.

According to an article in the Charlotte Observer, this new checking account has been years in the making and is a reaction to customer input about the importance of avoiding the steep $35 fee Bank of America has traditionally charged for overdrafts. The new Safe Balance accounts, which will be rolled out in a handful of states immediately and nationwide in the coming months, are designed for bank customers who do not meet account balance minimums that eliminate monthly account fees. The bank will continue to offer two checking accounts that charge overdraft fees and have no monthly charge if customers maintain a high enough balance.

The introduction of the Safe Balance account is a way for Bank of America to boost revenue in a business environment that has seen increasing regulations and public scrutiny. For example, many banks have struggled with how to best replace revenue that once came from charges to debit card transactions. The impact of the federal Durbin Amendment and consumer outrage at high debit card fees has prompted many banks to look elsewhere to make up for lost revenue.

But this is also a way for Bank of America to vie for consumers who are ditching the traditional financial services offered by banks in favor of prepaid debit cards. Traditionally financial products of last resort, used mostly by consumers who couldn’t qualify for a traditional checking or credit card account, prepaid cards have exploded in popularity recently. Two recent reports – one by the Pew Charitable Trusts and another by ratings agency Fitch Ratings – have documented how improved prepaid card offerings are prompting millions of Americans to give them try. The Federal Reserve reports that prepaid card transactions grew by 33.5 percent annually between 2009 and 2012 and Fitch Ratings predicts their use is likely to continue to rise.

March 10, 2014