If you’re trying to avoid debt or you’ve had bad credit in the past, then you might not be eager to sign up for a traditional credit card. However, fewer places will take checks these days and it’s not always safe to tote around the cash you need. Luckily, there are a number of prepaid Visa cards available, which are simply prepaid debit cards with a Visa brand on them.
5 Great Prepaid Visa Cards That Require No Credit Check
So what are some great examples for prepaid Visa cards? Following is a short list.
1. Wired Plastic Visa Prepaid Card
The Wired Plastic Visa Prepaid Card can simplify your life by foregoing the credit check you’d expect when applying for a traditional, standard credit card. Once your card arrives in the mail, you can add money to it through direct deposit or at any one of 100,000 retail locations around the country. You get a lot of free services as well, including free online access, mobile alerts, online bill pay (or by phone) and a rewards program (you can earn a point for each dollar you spend!).
2. READYdebit Prepaid Card
Another contender is the READYdebit Platinum Visa Prepaid Card. With the monthly Platinum plan, you can get a second card for free, free signature and PIN transactions, free online bill pay, and free customer service. The Platinum plan costs $14.95 a month and there’s a one-time card issuance fee of $9.95. To add money to your card, you can use Green Dot MoneyPaks, visit a store with the Visa ReadyLink service, or sign up for direct deposit. You can transfer funds from a bank account or another READYdebit card as well.
3. Green Dot Gold Prepaid Visa Card
Speaking of Green Dot, you might prefer the Green Dot Gold Prepaid Visa Card. With this card, you can reload at a large number of retailers across the nation. If you’d like to avoid the monthly fee, you just need to make 30 purchases a month. It’s also possible to skip the monthly fee if you can add $1,000 or more to your card each month. Plus, you can get free cash withdrawals from thousands of ATMs that are partnered with the card. If you want a second card, the fee’s only $4.95.
4. Prepaid Visa RushCard
Then there’s the Prepaid Visa RushCard, which comes in a variety of styles. This stylish card is a pay-as-you-go plan card without a monthly fee. You don’t have to pay extra to add money to this card and your online statements are free. Additional benefits include alerts, online money tools, bill pay, and a prescription discount card. Although there’s a convenience fee, it’s capped at $10 a month. The ATM withdrawal fee is $1.95, and there’s an activation fee of $19.95. This sort of card will probably work best for you if you don’t expect to be a heavy user each month. As mentioned, there are many designs available from RushCard.
5. ACE Visa Prepaid Card
One more popular card is the Pink ACE Elite Visa Prepaid Card from ACE Cash Express. It offers free direct deposit for paychecks and government benefits, the ability to add up to 3 cards to your account, and useful alerts. There’s also a monthly FeeAdvantage plan that waives the transaction fees for signature and PIN purchases. If you’d like to support the National Breast Cancer Foundation, you can look into applying for this card through this link.
Pros and Cons of Prepaid Visa Cards
There are some great benefits to sticking with prepaid Visa cards, regardless of your credit standing:
- Prepaid Visa cards are beneficial because you can only spend the amount you load into the cards. That means you don’t have to worry about going over a credit limit and you don’t face double digit penalty fees.
- These prepaid cards are good wherever you can use traditional Visa credit cards. Visa cards are widely accepted, so it would be easy for you to use your card at the department store, at the gas station, or for your other everyday expenses. It’s more convenient than using cash to pay for stuff.
- The obvious advantage here is that anyone can apply for one and chances are, you’ll be immediately approved for an account since these are not actual credit cards. The card issuers don’t require a credit check when you apply.
- Using a prepaid Visa card is a great way to build good spending habits. Your card can help tide you over before you actually apply for a real credit card.
But there’s a cost to using these cards, since they do have fees that you’ll need to contend with. Since customers aren’t maintaining a balance, the issuer makes money from them by charging fees. The only time it may be cheaper to use a credit card is if you own a no annual fee credit card which you religiously pay off in full each month. By doing so, you’d be using your credit card for free.
Bottom Line: Debit cards are popular because of their predictable fees. The “damage” they do is pretty limited. Check out some of the aforementioned prepaid Visa cards as an alternative to credit cards, especially if you’d like to keep your debt under control. These cards can add a level of convenience to your shopping experience without the interest charges of traditional credit cards.
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Great article. Very helpful for a lot of people. Thanks.
Thanks for this, but are any of these cards available to Canadian residents? Quite often the problem with credit and debit cards and similar products for a Canadian resident is that many of the American companies simply won’t deal with Canadian residents, for one reason or another. It’s not that they aren’t allowed to, because if you look hard enough you can find the occasional one that will. But they just seem not to want to bother, because of the perceived extra paperwork or other difficulties which are more perceived than real. It would be helpful, however, if you could note whether these companies will deal with Canadians or not.