Prepaid cards serve multiple purposes, the most important of which include consolidating your cash and teaching your kids how to use plastic wisely.
However, one of their most practical uses is when the kids take off for a week - maybe on a school trip or a summer excursion - and you're less than thrilled about handing them a.) an envelope full of cash or b.) a credit card. In these instances, a prepaid card is the perfect solution.
Here's why.
Prepaid cards of 2013 have marketed themselves as ahead of the curve when it comes to technological advances in moving money and monitoring funds. Prepaid services like Serve® from AmEx can give parents peace of mind for multiple reasons, namely because parents can add additional funds to their children's card in case of via email or text.
No more wiring money or snail-mailing checks; Serve® from AmEx allows for instantaneous money transfers that are simple to perform and easy to manage. Plus, this prepaid service means you or your kids are traveling with one of the best roadside assistance services of any credit card company today, and their Global Assist® Services mean you're never alone in case of a medical, financial or legal emergency.
So if you've got a son or daughter getting ready for an upcoming trip - or maybe you want to set them up with a budget for their first semester on campus - Serve® from AmEx is a risk-free way to hand over some widely-accepted plastic. Serve® from AmEx isn't the only prepaid card to make transferring money simple and secure, but it's the option with the least amount of fees and the most additional benefits. (Purchase protection, roadside assistance, etc.)
While a prepaid card won't begin to build your child's credit, it will get them on the path of responsible spending and getting used to spending only what they have. So while they won't directly build credit with a prepaid card, in the long run it's setting your son or daughter up with some excellent spending practices.
(And in the short run, you're allowing yourself to sleep a little easier at night. That counts for something, right?)
