What About Prepaid Credit Cards for Teens?
Sometimes it’s hard to trust kids or teenagers with cash. You give them a 20 and you don’t know if they’ll waste it on junk or lose it and just ask you for more. We often hear that carrying a credit card is safer than cash. It you lose your credit card and someone starts charging to it or steals your identity, does that sound safe to you? I’m sure you’d much rather lose 100 bucks than thousands and a stolen identity.
This is not to say that you should have a credit card, but it might not be the safest or most practical idea for your teenager. Another great option is a prepaid credit card for teenagers. The best benefit of a prepaid card is that you don’t spend any more money than you have. You don’t have to worry about paying interest on your card because it’s not a credit card that you have to pay off balances.
The READY Debit Prepaid Visa Card
I like the READYdebit Prepaid Visa Debit Card out of many of the prepaid cards. It allows you to use a visa card just as you would a credit card or debit card. Instead of borrowing the money from a company you load the money yourself. There are three different ways to load money.
- Direct Deposit – You can fill out a form to have your money directly deposited into the account. Of course, you probably don’t want your money going into your teens card, but you can also have their money directly deposited into it if they so choose.
- Cash Options – You can use the MoneyPak or Visa Ready Link to deposit money at a store using cash.
- Bank – You can deposit money through your bank
If you want more control over your kids spending, you can load a certain amount onto their card. If they have a job, they can load it themselves. You can also see all their transactions by logging into the account so you know what they are spending.
You Don’t Have to Worry About Overspending and Debt
With a prepaid card, you can overspend. If you don’t have enough for the transaction, it will not go through. With a credit card, you can spend however much you want under the limit. If you can’t pay the bill that month in full, you will be charged interest on it. This makes for a great alternative for an adult as well, who is prone to overspending on a credit card.
Online Bill Pay
If, as an adult, you are interested in a prepaid card, you will also be able to pay or bills online with the Online Bill Pay feature. For $4 a month, you get unlimited use and you don’t have to write checks or go to the bank or post office.
With a monthly service fee of less than $4 and many other free features, you will save yourself so much money by not getting a credit card. Also, your kid will learn financial responsibility without falling into debt.
Guaranteed Approval – READYdebit Prepaid Visa Debit Card