prepaid debit cards

prepaid debit cards

Ask Creditnet: Are prepaid debit cards a good holiday gift for kids?

December 6th, 2012 by Jason Bushey

Dear Creditnet: Is there any difference between giving someone a prepaid debit card or a gift card this holiday? I've given gift cards before, but I'm curious if there's any benefit to giving my kids a prepaid debit. Thanks! - Tim L. from VT

Answer: The short answer is yes - a prepaid debit card is a good gift idea for your son or daughter this holiday. The long answer, however, is a little more complicated. Let's start with your first question...

How are gift cards and prepaid debit cards different?

Why Prepaid Cards Won't Rebuild Credit

August 20th, 2012 by Joshua Heckathorn

The first thing we should clear up in this discussion is the fact that there's no such thing as a "prepaid credit card".  It simply doesn't exist.   If anyone references a prepaid credit card in a conversation with you, what they actually mean is a "prepaid debit card". The terms unfortunately get mixed up all the time, even though "debit" and "credit" mean very different things, but the fact is all of these cards are debit cards.  So now that we've got that confusing point cleared up, let's move onto how these prepaid debit cards work and how they affect your credit scores. Prepaid debit cards are actually quite simple financial products.  They basically work just like a debit card that's linked to your personal checking account, only there's no checking account to worry about.

Prepaid Debit Cards: Fast, Easy to Use, and a Threat to Homeland Security?

September 30th, 2011 by Logan Abbott

While the past few years have been treacherous for the credit card industry, there is one area of the business that has grown dramatically: prepaid debit cards. Consumers have increasingly turned to prepaid debit cards as an easy way to have access to their cash without having to worry about keeping cash on hand.  From parents using it to distribute allowance to their kids, to consumers simply trying to stick to a budget, prepaid debit cards have been a big hit.