Reloadable prepaid/"burner" Visa cards?

[CamoDeafie]

Thinking for the month of June, to get something like that to build credit, and to use for my business expenses and commission incomes, so that we can keep track of what I spend and what I earn for the sewing business separately from the main bank accounts.. what are you guys' thoughts on this? The other option would be to open a credit card in my name but.. it would require paying it off every month which itself isn't a big deal, just that it'll be linked to primary bank accounts and is not as simple as I'd think it should be.. hence the idea of a separate prepaid Visa card that I can reload...

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[Tinman357]

Intrested in that information myself. Hope some good advice comrs through.

My interest leans more to protecting my main card from fraud and online shopping.

 

[Bacchus]

You cannot build credit with a debit card because no credit is given.

I looked at prepaid debit cards pretty hard about a year ago. I like the idea of using a prepaid card if I'm making a purchase with a sketchy vendor since my potential loss is limited to the balance on the card, but there is an argument to be made in those instances for a credit card with its enormous consumer protections.

A gift card is a prepaid debit card that you cannot reload; that is you cannot add more money to it after you purchase it. There is a history of some scams with involving gift cards bought at a stores where a bad guy copies down the card number, waits for the card to be activated by monitoring its status online, and then spends all the available cash. The legitimate buyer is left with a depleted card, zero balance. I have bought several gift cards from stores and haven't seen this, I'm sure it's rare. You can also buy some of these online.

For gift cards I like the ones from American Express and the Vanilla gift cards.

For a reloadable card, I would look first at the American Express Bluebird card. It has almost no fees; you can transfer money in and out by linking it to your bank account; you can transfer money in and out at Walmart; you can make direct deposits into it; you can scan checks with a mobile device app; you can transfer money back and forth to other Bluebird customers; you can get money at an ATM (no fee at most 7-11s); you can make store purchases and online purchases; you can use its Bill Pay feature to pay bills online; you can send money to Walmart to be held for someone to pick up, very similar to wiring money by Western Union.

You can also set up sub accounts, where up to four family or others can get their own card for purchases, but the money transferred into each card is controlled by you through your "master" Bluebird card.

I don't have a Bluebird card, so all of the above I took from my notes when I was more interested in debits cards. In the end I went with credit cards with better "rewards" than the cards I already had.

 

[Unicykle]

Your bank will have some sort of a credit building program with essentially what you are talking about where you put say $300 from your bank account into a another account they open on this card with a $300 limit and you set it up to auto pay each month after a year or so you can get a regular credit card with a higher limit.

 

[Hooyah DeepSea]

One of the big problems here in Central Oregon is that many people are 'self employed', but they directly pocket their income without running it through their financial institution. The problem is that they show no consistant income / cashflow, therefore they gain no credit. so when it comes time for a loan of any substantial amount, it gets declined because they have no credit history and no record of income / cashflow, despite paying their rent and maintaining a lifestyle in the black, so to speak.

 

[Alexx1401]

Intrested in that information myself. Hope some good advice comrs through.

My interest leans more to protecting my main card from fraud and online shopping.

Assuming by "main card" you are talking a credit card? If so there is no better protection than what we get with these in the US. If you order something and seller does not do you right the bank will just take the money back from them. If someone gets the card info you just tell the bank. They take the phony charges off and send you a new card. You are out nothing.
Only time I have used the pre paid cards is when I buy tires. The shop always has some rebate deal that is paid by sending me one of those.
Now if by "main card" you mean a Debit card? Then yes, be concerned. Those if there is fraud the bank will also make you whole again BUT, someone could clean out the account and it may take the bank days to "fix this". In the mean time it could be a problem if you need the money.

 

[Alexx1401]

I don't have a Bluebird card, so all of the above I took from my notes when I was more interested in debits cards. In the end I went with credit cards with better "rewards" than the cards I already had.

I had a Bluebird account for several years. I set it up for the reason I could send a card to several of the kids and load it from my account to their card at will. Used it for direct deposit from work at one job. For several years it worked great. Paid bills from it just like a bank account. Then one day poof, all the info on it just went away. Called and got someone in India, telling me they had to re do their computers and it wiped all the info. So I had to set up every account for bill pay over again. PITA but it worked again. A year later another crash of some kind and I had, had enough. Opened an online account with Capitol One, as soon as it was set up and I could see it worked I closed the Blue Bird. So its been a couple years now. Not sure what if any changes have gone on at Bluebird. It did work great for years until for some reason things went south. Could not hurt to try one and see. It was at that time run by American Express.

 

[MymuttBear]

I have bought several gift cards from stores and haven't seen this, I'm sure it's rare. You can also buy some of these online.

Not that rare unfortunately even if you check the back of the gift card to see if it has been tampered with.

The "clever" scammers glue the back down and the first time you go to use the card you will be told there is zero balance, and good luck getting your money back as neither the store nor the corporation will take responsibility for the fraud.

Simple fix? Don't have the cards available where people can just pick them off the rack or better yet put them in a tamper proof wrapper.

 

[Certaindeaf]

If it's an actual business it should have/be a separate account different than your personal account.

 

[Richo877]

Credit card would be optimal with a rewards program that pays you back for your spending. If you're planning on keeping business income and expenses separate from personal finance, open a high yield checking account in the business name and use that to pay your business credit card off monthly to avoid the revolving debt while simultaneously stacking rewards.

 

[Bacchus]

CamoDeafie,

Somehow I totally misread your initial post. I think when I read "a separate prepaid Visa card that I can reload..." I started thinking about a prepaid debit card that you can reload. The posts here that came after mine are much more on point.

I guess I had a boatload of great debit card info that was just dying to get out ... Now I'll have to scrape it all off the walls and hose them down.

 

[CamoDeafie]

@Bacchus , no worries, still useful information anyhow I already use two debit cards linked to bank accounts. Both have Visa on them, so I can use them like CCs online but they may not have the same protection as credit cards.. however the only credit cards we qualify for have 30+% APRs and $5,000+ credit line minimums.. which we want to avoid. We could open a Credit Line of Savings but the bank we use has a rather big savings account minimum deposit to qualify, something north of $10,000... which we don't presently have.

That's why I'm looking at the Chime, Bluebird, Visa's own card line, and trying to see what offers I can get through US Bank, which is our primary account.

 

[Bacchus]

Well ... since you brought up U.S. Bank ...

Also from my notes, U.S. Bank has a couple interesting credit cards, consumer probably. Cash Plus has rewards of 5% for utilities (!) and 5% for department stores. Altitude Connect gives rewards of 2% for groceries, 4% for airlines, 5% for hotels, 5% for rental cars, 4% Gas, but that card has an annual fee of $95. If you travel a lot, probably worth it. Actually, the rewards are stated as 2X, 4X, etc., probably as multiples of "points" but typically that will translate to about 2%, 4%, etc.

I was tempted to get Cash Plus to get the 5% for utilities, but I already had too many new cards.

 

[CamoDeafie]

Does anyone here have experience, good or bad with Chime or similar "credit building" Visa cards? Still doing some figuring, we do have an offer from US Bank for one of their Secured Visa cards which requires a minimum deposit of $300 to a maximum of $5,000 into a Secured Savings Account; and an APR of 28.99% for interest.. Basically credit limit would be fixed to how much we start with for savings deposit; like if we deposit 300, that's the credit limit. If we deposit 5,000 then that's the credit limit; seems to be one of the better options, maybe?

And then theres their other cards besides the Secured Visa series; their variable APR is currently 19.49% to 29.99% ; some have points, some have up to 5% cash back only on some categories that I doubt I'd use often enough to justify..

 

[Alexx1401]

Does anyone here have experience, good or bad with Chime or similar "credit building" Visa cards? Still doing some figuring, we do have an offer from US Bank for one of their Secured Visa cards which requires a minimum deposit of $300 to a maximum of $5,000 into a Secured Savings Account; and an APR of 28.99% for interest.. Basically credit limit would be fixed to how much we start with for savings deposit; like if we deposit 300, that's the credit limit. If we deposit 5,000 then that's the credit limit; seems to be one of the better options, maybe?

And then theres their other cards besides the Secured Visa series; their variable APR is currently 19.49% to 29.99% ; some have points, some have up to 5% cash back only on some categories that I doubt I'd use often enough to justify..

Any card with cash points of some kind is great IF, and that's the big IF here, you pay it off. If the place you are using the card does not offer a discount to pay some other way, why not the card? Again though this is assuming you are paying off the card. So you get the points and are not paying CC interest rate on that loan you took. I have 3 cards that offer points. Which one I use depends on who is offering the best deal that month. They all seem to compete with each other offering "deals" that run short times.