subject: Prepaid-Cards: The Advantage [print this page] Prepaid-Cards: The Advantage Prepaid-Cards: The Advantage
Prepaid cards are cards that you put money into ahead of time so that you can spend money without running the risk of going into debt. With a regular credit card, there is always the risk of overspending because it is so easy to do. If you spend more on a credit card than you can pay off, you are stuck with a remaining balance and before you know it, your balance will increase each time you cannot pay your payment in full, and as the balance increases, so does the interest.
With prepaid cards, once you spend all the money you have put into the card, that is it. The card will not function anymore and you will need to either put some items back, or pay using another form of payment. However, you can check your balance as many times as you want by looking at the website or calling on the phone. You can also put as much money as you want on your card anytime you want, so you can always know how much you can spend at all times without running out of money on your card.
When you use your prepaid card, select credit when you swipe your card since it does not have a pin number like a debit card does. However, this is your own credit you are using, (your own money you put in there), not the credit from the credit card company, so you will never have to pay interest, or be worried that you will accidently go over and then be stuck with a bill later on that you cannot pay in full because prepaid cards won't let you go over the amount of money you put in there. Therefore, using prepaid cards, whether they are prepaid debit cards or prepaid credit cards, are quite safe. And, with using some prepaid credit cards, you can also build up your credit at the same time!
