For many years now, many people have considered using their credit or debit cards as the ideal form of payment. This is not really surprising as conventional plastic cards offer protection, convenience, ease of use, and other benefits that are hard to miss. Unfortunately, not many people have access to credit or debit cards.
If you are one of those people who can’t get a credit or debit card for one reason or another, you would be delighted to know you can also turn to the best prepaid cards available in the market today. Unlike credit or debit cards, the best prepaid cards are very easy to get ahold of and obtain.
What’s even better is that the best prepaid cards offer pretty much the same convenience, ease, and protection that most conventional plastic cards offer minus the hassles. For those who are frequent travelers, they can also use international prepaid cards to make their financial transactions smooth and easy.
Unlike their conventional counterparts, prepaid cards have one distinct feature that makes them unique — they are not linked to any savings or checking account. This means you would need to load money successfully onto the card before you can use it for ATM withdrawals or purchase transactions.
What’s impressive however is prepaid cards offer many of the benefits and perks that traditional plastic cards offer and then some. For starters, they are very easy to obtain, no need for you to go through tedious applications and time-consuming background and financial checks.
What makes prepaid cards even more powerful? Below are some of the notable reasons:
Budget-Friendly
If you would like to manage your money and your finances better, you have to create a budget and stick to it. However, for most people, this is easier said than done. Fortunately, sticking to your budget is so much easier with a prepaid card. For many people, they are considered effective budgeting tools.
Since prepaid cards don’t have credit capabilities, you won’t be able to spend more than you are supposed to. Your spending will be limited by the balance that is available on the card. This means you won’t be able to use the card for the time being once the balance has been depleted.
The good news is you can use the card again once money has been successfully loaded onto the card. If you want, you can also use your card as a separate bank account. In other words, you can use one card as a place where the budget for a particular expenditure can be stored.
Convenience
Prepaid cards, just like most plastic cards, are also accepted by ATMs and merchants both here and abroad. This means ease and convenience for you as you can purchase whatever it is that you want with a quick swipe of your card. In addition, you can also withdraw money from ATMs the card is associated with.
Amazingly, most cards are also accepted by online merchants locally and abroad. This means you can just do your purchases conveniently at the comfort of your home or office. Just make sure you have the sufficient amount loaded to cover your purchases and you are good to go.
Availability
Prepaid cards, unlike their other plastic card counterparts, can easily be obtained without going through those pesky and time-consuming financial and background checks. Since you won’t be borrowing money when you use the card, you can easily obtain it without any hassles — no checks and sharing of personal information.
You also won’t need to pass strict background checks just to obtain a card. As long as you can load money onto the card, you can use it as many times as you want to. You can also reload money in case the balance won’t be able to cover your transactions. Truly, convenience and ease at your fingertips.
