What are Prepaid Credit Cards?

These are credit cards whose credit limit equals the amount that you “load” on it. They can be used anywhere Visa and /or Mastercard are accepted.

Pre paid credit cards generally don’t require credit checks so they are great

for people with no credit or trying to rebuild credit.  Not all pre-paid credit cards offer credit builder, but on this site iif there is a credit builder option to the service I will notate it in red. Click Here For Prepaid Visa Cards,  Click Here For Prepaid MasterCards

Secured credit cards are similar to prepaid credit cards in that the credit limit equals the amount you deposit on the card, some of them will help you build credit & re-establish credit and some won’t .  I’ve found secured credit cards a great way not only to build credit but to build up your savings account!   Most secured credit card companies will make your card unsecured within a year or 2 depending on how you use the card.  Once your card becomes unsecured, they will send you back your security deposit!   Click here for Secured Credit Card Offers

How do prepaid credit cards differ from secured credit cards?

The main difference is that with a secured credit card they will use your deposit as collateral on your credit limit.   You can spend up to your credit limit monthly but you are expected to send them a check at the end of the month to pay on that debt, just as if it was a regular unsecured credit card.  If you don’t pay, that’s when they will close your account and use your security deposit to pay off the amount that you owe.

With a prepaid credit card your limit is also the amount that you deposit on it, but as you use the card the money is taken directly out of your account.  You can use the card until the money you loaded onto it runs out.  At that point you can transfer more money onto the card and continue to use it.

On the next few pages you will find links to online financial institutions that provide the following type of debit and credit cards

  1. Prepaid Visa Cards
  2. Pre-Paid Mastercards,
  3. Merchandise Cards – these cards give large credit limits, but you can ONLY use them to purchase merchandise from their catalogs.  Some have a credit builder option
  4. Secured Credit Cards
  5. Unsecured Credit Cards we only list companies here that will approve people with bad credit or no credit.

 

Learn More from our Prepaid Credit Card Articles and Prepaid Debit Card Articles