Thursday, July 23, 2015

The Best Prepaid Debit Cards of 2015 (July 2015)!




Prepaid debits cards, WHY?!?!? It's better than cashing checks at the liquor store, better than check cashing places, and better than stuffing cash under the mattress.  It's easy to overdraft accounts during hard-times and therefore be in bad standing with banks to obtain future checking accounts or obtain future saving accounts; this is a good way to get back on track. For everyone else: you have access to more ATMs without fees compared to a traditional bank, possibly rewards,and you can deposit cash unlike the average online bank.

I would say another advantage of prepaid debit cards is that you can game the rewards/points system of credit cards by loading credit onto the AMEX prepaids that support non AMEX credit cards and pay mortgages, pay rent, pay student loans etc. thorough bill pay....and then you get AMEX pre-paid rewards as well. However, AMEX caught on in 2015 and stopped the gaming. However, you can load the Serve Card (AMEX prepaid card) with AMEX credit cards, but you will not get AMEX credit card rewards, so you can't double dip. To end on a good-note, if you have a rewards debit card you can double dip by doing debit transfers and take advantage of debit rewards and AMEX rewards.

Sidenote: you can only have one of the AMEX prepaid cards (doesn't include sub-accounts)


Anyways....






In order of preference:


1a. Serve (By American Express)  https://www.serve.com/help/
pros:
  • 1 free ATM withdrawal any ATM per month
  • check clear is set at 6days and there is no fee
  • free atm withdraw at money pass ATMs
  • easy to deposit cash without fees at CVS, 7-Eleven, Walmart, family dollar
  • Amex offers 
  • access to pre-sale event tickets
  • $100,000 max balance

cons:
  • Amex is not accepted everywhere such as mom-pop Chinese carryout, mom-pop liquor stores, mom-pop restaurants etc.
  • lack same day check clear
  • $1 monthly fee unless monthly direct deposit or $500 deposit per month
  • $15,000 max spending limit per month
  • $5,000 max cash deposit per month ($2,500 max per day)
  • unable to earn interest

1b. REDcard (By American Express)
differences from serve: https://amex.serve.com/prepaidredcard/faqs/

  • 5% off purchases at Target
  • free Target shipping
  • no AMEX rewards
  • waive foreign transaction fees
  • no monthly fees
  • free ATM withdrawals Target stores and Allpoint ATM (does not work at other ATMs)
  • only add cash at target
  • unable to add checks


1c. Bluebird (By American Express)
differences from serve: https://www.bluebird.com/faqs?linknav=us-Prepaid-Bluebird-Home-Faqs

  • Walmart offers
  • AMEX rewards
  • write checks
  • waive foreign transaction fees
  • no monthly fees
  • only add cash at walmart
  • ability to add checks over $2,000 (by mail)
  • free ATM withdrawals Walmart and Money Pass ATMs 




2. Moven https://www.moven.com/app.html#faq
pros:
  • no monthly fees
  • free ATM withdrawal at star ATMs
  • ability for check to clear same day
  • able to spend $10,000 per 24 hours

cons:
  • separate app for check deposit powered by Ingo
  • check clear takes 10-days for no fee
  • fee to load cash instantly
  • $10,000 monthly deposit limit
  • unable to earn interest
  • maximum balance is $10,000 (verified info from Moven over phone)



 3. Kaiku https://www.kaiku.com/legal/cardholder
pros:
  • load $10,000 cash per day
  • load $25,000 per month
  • free ATM withdrawal at Allpoint ATMs
  • ability for check to clear same day

cons:
  • $3 monthly fee unless a direct deposit of $750 is made each month
  • maximum balance is $10,000 (verified info from kaiku over phone)
  • limited to only $3,000 spending per day
  • unable to earn interest
  • fee to load cash instantly
  • check clear takes 10-days for no fee
  • separate app for check deposit powered by Ingo



at