Here is what you should consider before you obtain one of these money sucking cards.
They are expensive to maintain. Most prepaid debit cards do not report to any of the 3 major reporting bureaus; so they have little or no benefit to your credit history. Let’s use the Russell Simmons Rush Card as an example. As an “extra option“ they will provide you with a service called the Rush Path To Credit. If you enroll your card in this service they will report your payment history to Lexis Nexis and PRBC. (These are not one of the 3 major credit bureaus) for recurring bills such as rent, utilities, cable, and telephone. Rush Card uses ambiguous catch words and phrases like “CAN”, (not WILL), and help you build a positive credit FILE, (not credit HISTORY). This is just a way to get you to use the card so they can make money from the bank fees charged to the vendors and make you believe that getting this card will help you build or rebuild your credit history.
Next make sure you do the MATH. Most prepaid debit cards have a lot of FEES attached to them.In fine print at the bottom of one of their statements is the following;
“Free” means we will waive the activation fee of up to $4.95 all other fees apply offer valid only for qualified customers who pass customer verification. From the issuing bank. Note that most companies that offer prepaid debit cards are only the administrators/marketers, the actual cards are issued by a bank so it is extremely important that you read and understand the customer agreement and privacy policies from both the card company and the bank as they are different and all your private information is stored by both companies with very loose language as to who they can share your information with including 3rd parties who they deal with. Card will arrive with $0 balance. Initial purchase $4.95 ($6.95 for NASCAR card) look carefully, if you choose the NASCAR card it will cost you $6.95 they will waive $4.95 your cost is $2.00 so free is not really free! Monthly fee $5.95 but will be waived if you load at least $1,000 or use it 30 times or more per month. Think about this for a second. Every single month you must load at least $1,000. Well if you can spare $1,000 per month then you probably can qualify for a free bank checking account and you are doing pretty well if you can spend $1,000 per month on debit card purchases. And would most likely not over draft a free checking bank account that provides a free debit card. Or you have to use the card about once a day to qualify for the 30 times usage, I don’t know about you but i would have a hard time using it to purchase something every day. So it is safe to assume that you will be paying the $5.95 Monthly fee to have this card in your wallet/purse. ATM fees: (free at in network ATM) all other ATM $2.50.Again with such a small amount of free network ATM available-when you consider the total of 15,000 ATM is across the entire country, the chances of you paying $2.50 every time you use the card are very good. Bottom line research all your options there are alot of better options out there from established banks with completely free bank debit cards, you have to be responsible and not overdraft them and use them at there ATM but they have hundreds of thousands of them available not just 15-20,000.
