Prepaid Cards - More Than Just Budgeting and Control
Originally launched over 10 years ago as a budgeting tool for youngsters shopping and gaming online, Prepaid Credit Cards have come a long way since with a host of mature prepaid propositions which help you do more than just budget your spend.
What are Prepaid Cards Prepaid Debit Cards or Prepaid Credit Cards, as they are also known, are essentially like bank issued debit or credit cards but with one or two major differences; unlike bank issued cards, there is no credit or overdraft facility and you can only spend using your prepaid card once you have loaded it with the appropriate funds.
Hence, they are essentially a "pay before" solution.
The Original Prepaid Card: Budgeting and Control Pre paid Cards were originally introduced to the UK around the time of the dotcom boom when it started to become clear that youngsters would be spending a significant proportion of their time online - shopping, gaming and chatting.
A few innovative businesses realised that they would need a tool to allow these youngsters to make purchases online and hence, pre paid cards were introduced with a relatively low level of regulation and sophistication.
The obvious benefits of these cards were that they allowed youngsters the freedom to manage their finances and develop money management skills and whilst also allowing them to learn about financial responsibility in a controlled environment where they would not be able to overspend or get into financial difficulty.
Furthermore, it allowed parents to use online account management tools to monitor balance, spend and transaction history thus giving them the comfort that they were still in control.
Hence, the original pre paid cards proved extremely popular as tools for budgeting and control but there is a lot more to pre paid cards than just budgeting.
Prepaid Cards Today: Benefits beyond Budgeting As the prepaid market has matured, so have the products.
We now have specific cards for travel, money transfer, poor credit history, shopping, gifting, youth and the use of pre paid cards has extended beyond just consumers to businesses that are using prepaid cards as payroll and expenses cards as well as payout cards.
Some of the ways that growing prepaid industry maturity has helped extend the benefits of Prepaid Card beyond just budgeting include usage as
What are Prepaid Cards Prepaid Debit Cards or Prepaid Credit Cards, as they are also known, are essentially like bank issued debit or credit cards but with one or two major differences; unlike bank issued cards, there is no credit or overdraft facility and you can only spend using your prepaid card once you have loaded it with the appropriate funds.
Hence, they are essentially a "pay before" solution.
The Original Prepaid Card: Budgeting and Control Pre paid Cards were originally introduced to the UK around the time of the dotcom boom when it started to become clear that youngsters would be spending a significant proportion of their time online - shopping, gaming and chatting.
A few innovative businesses realised that they would need a tool to allow these youngsters to make purchases online and hence, pre paid cards were introduced with a relatively low level of regulation and sophistication.
The obvious benefits of these cards were that they allowed youngsters the freedom to manage their finances and develop money management skills and whilst also allowing them to learn about financial responsibility in a controlled environment where they would not be able to overspend or get into financial difficulty.
Furthermore, it allowed parents to use online account management tools to monitor balance, spend and transaction history thus giving them the comfort that they were still in control.
Hence, the original pre paid cards proved extremely popular as tools for budgeting and control but there is a lot more to pre paid cards than just budgeting.
Prepaid Cards Today: Benefits beyond Budgeting As the prepaid market has matured, so have the products.
We now have specific cards for travel, money transfer, poor credit history, shopping, gifting, youth and the use of pre paid cards has extended beyond just consumers to businesses that are using prepaid cards as payroll and expenses cards as well as payout cards.
Some of the ways that growing prepaid industry maturity has helped extend the benefits of Prepaid Card beyond just budgeting include usage as
- A prepaid card for rewards or discounts as there are a few exceptional prepaid cards which provide discounts across shopping, groceries, petrol and other day to day purchases.
- A General Spend card for those who don't have a bank account, or are newcomers to the UK and do not have a credit rating.
- As a Travel Card for those that are going abroad and prefer to carry cash on a card or are looking for a better rate than that provided by high street exchange bureaus.
- As a Money Transfer or Money Share card for those who wish to share their funds with friends and family around the world
- As an Internet Payment Card for risk averse spenders who do not wish to shop online with their credit/debit cards or for those who do not have a credit/debit card to be able to avail online shopping offers.
- As an Anonymity Card for those who wish to protect their identity online from fraudsters or are keen to avoid embarrassing bank statements
- As a Payroll and Expenses card for those employees who want their wages to be paid on a card and save cheque cashing fees or those employers who want to pay their staff using a card instead of cash/cheque
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