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Pre paid debt card

WaTaGuMp

WaTaGuMp

Lifer
So my brother sent me a pre paid debt card from Green Dot, I had to activate it when I got it and they asked for all my personal info including my SS number. While I felt using the site was secure, I just thought it was lame that they asked for this info. Anyhow, I did the process and saw my balance of $25 was ready to go.

Today I went to use it and the card was declined, I get home late and check the balance again, its sits at $17.05, they took a $7.95 monthly service fee right off the top. I have never been given a card like this before, you can reload it etc, which I have zero need to do. But of course every little thing you want to do, has some kind of fee.

Is this normal for these types of cards? Has anyone used other cards and can share what they are like? I told my brother never to send me something like this again, in the past he has sent gift cards for places to eat, which always just worked and I don't have to activate or do anything but use them.
 
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WaTaGuMp said:
Is this normal for these types of cards? Has anyone used other cards and can share what they are like? I told my brother never to send me something like this again, in the past he has sent gift cards for places to eat, which always just worked and I don't have to activate or do anything but use them.
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Some yes - there can also be fees to reload them, fees if you don't use them enough, atm fees, replacement cards fees, etc. Is he just sending you money occasionally? If so then maybe just do the Visa\MC gift cards. You can sometimes find those on sale or running a promotion at staples or kroger that offsets the purchase fee. If he wants something to reload for you then maybe look into Amex Bluebird if places you would use it at take amex. No monthly fee, activation fee and the card is free if you set it up online. Reloads are free online with a debit card, at walmart or moneypass ATMS. No charge for debit card transactions or for withdrawing funds at a moneypass ATM - $2.50 charge at other atms

https://www.bluebird.com/#fee-chart
 
Exterous said:
Some yes - there can also be fees to reload them, fees if you don't use them enough, atm fees, replacement cards fees, etc. Is he just sending you money occasionally? If so then maybe just do the Visa\MC gift cards. You can sometimes find those on sale or running a promotion at staples or kroger that offsets the purchase fee. If he wants something to reload for you then maybe look into Amex Bluebird if places you would use it at take amex. No monthly fee, activation fee and the card is free if you set it up online. Reloads are free online with a debit card, at walmart or moneypass ATMS. No charge for debit card transactions or for withdrawing funds at a moneypass ATM - $2.50 charge at other atms

https://www.bluebird.com/#fee-chart
Click to expand...

He just sends me something for my bday and Xmas, that's all, and vice versa. This whole thing is the lamest thing I have seen when it comes to some kind of card. Why did it decline my card instead of taking the whole balance then just let me pay the rest? The total was $23 and change when I thought the card had a $25 balance, when a gift card for someplace like In N Out runs out, I just pay whats left to pay in cash, this thing doesnt seem to let you do that. So I have to buy something and have it come out to exactly $17.05? Which is whats on it after they took their absurd cut.
 
I just cancelled the card, so according to their FAQ, they will send me a check for the balance, so now I have to wait about 10 days.
 
mdram said:
visa/mc gift cards have fees also, read the fine print

just have him e-gift you an amazon card
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He should just go back to giving me cards for restaurants. He also doesn't even email me anything, he sends them in the mail. I send him Starbucks e-cards, zero issues ever.
 
WaTaGuMp said:
He just sends me something for my bday and Xmas, that's all, and vice versa. This whole thing is the lamest thing I have seen when it comes to some kind of card. Why did it decline my card instead of taking the whole balance then just let me pay the rest? The total was $23 and change when I thought the card had a $25 balance, when a gift card for someplace like In N Out runs out, I just pay whats left to pay in cash, this thing doesnt seem to let you do that. So I have to buy something and have it come out to exactly $17.05? Which is whats on it after they took their absurd cut.
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Thats pretty common for Visa\MC\Amex branded gift cards. Store branded gift cards can do that because they use the store's database for balance tracking. My understanding is that Visa\MC\Amex gift cards can't do that because they would need to check your balance through the payment processing environment since the store wouldn't have that info in their own database. So who ever is holding that info would need to make it available to the store to see. I don't think most POS systems can differentiate between visa gift cards and debit cards as a matter of principle (for ease of use so you can use the gift card anywhere Visa\MC is accepted) meaning that your bank would be passing along your checking account balance every time you run your debit card. Or at least a fair bit of time and money would need to be done to make this work.

I'll check the balance ahead of time since most places can split a payment at least once. "I'd like $23.07 on this and the rest on my credit card"
 
I get Vanilla prepaid visa/mastercard. It costs $5 when you buy it if I remember right, and no other fees afterward. The ones I get you can put a variable amount up to $500, and I always get $500 to make the fee percentage as small as possible.
 
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