Comments on: Prepaid Debit Cards Can Help You Avoid Bank OverDraft Fees

By: prepaid debit cards

prepaid debit cards — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:54:19 +0000

Some of the fees being charge for debit cards by some of the financial institutions borders on extortion or at least that is the perception in the public. Saying that we need to consider the fact that these financial institutions are businesses who wants to make a profit. Now debit cards are indirect competition with credit cards in the financial world. Credit cards make money by charging interest on overdrafts while the debit cards do not. Debit cards make money by asking higher transaction fees. The higher transaction fees can’t compete with the income obtained from interest which leaves the debit cards at a disadvantage. To overcome this financial institutions have adopted a strategy to allow you to spend more money on your debit card than the amount available within your account. For that privilege they slap a heavy fee (fine) on you. This fee closes the gap between credit cards and debit cards. The question to the public is “Is there a difference between the cost of a credit card and debit card?”

By: Joseph Sullivan

Joseph Sullivan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:34:30 +0000

Here’s my take from personal experience:

I used to work at Ruby Tuesday and our card was pretty bad. But, from what I hear, it was typical because most cards either have a monthly fee or pretty limited as to the free items. I have worked at Starbucks for about 7 months now and they allow us to have a card called the Money Manager Card. The choice was pretty simple because there are no monthly fees, I can use it on their network (allpoint atms) free at all times, never any fees to buy things (signing or using my PIN and getting cash back if I want…all without a fee or surcharge), no overdraft. Let’s just say I haven’t paid a fee in the entire time I’ve had the card. It’s pretty simple to use it at no charge and I really don’t have to tip-toe around any limited free items like most other cards I have seen have.

Oh, and don’t lose most payroll cards! If you do, it’ll cost you $$ even to get the replacement sent by the post office. My new card give free replacements when delivered by the post office all of the time. Or, if I want, I can get it delivered by Fedex for $10. Pretty reasonable as I sent something by Fedex a month ago and paid $14!

My point is, if you are a company and are going to get your employees something, don’t do what Ruby Tuesday did and get something that costs your employees $$$ to use it! I hated them for “giving” us that card…IMHO of course.

I should state that Walmart has something that is similar sounding to Money Manager Card. I think it is the Money Card or something like that. That card is definitely not the same.

I did a quick Google search on Money Card when investigating the Starbucks offering and mistakenly clicked on a link to a Money Card “problem” page where people complained about it. Then, I realized that “Money Card” is not “Money Manager Card”.

Thought I would let you know so you don’t make the same mistake.

By: Lsmith

Lsmith — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:42:01 +0000

What a great post! Banks charge exorbitant fees for over-drafting on debit cards, that’s why prepaid options are the best way to go. Prepaid credit cards not only help users manage their money, but they prevent them from overspending and incurring fees.

By: Her Every Cent Counts

Her Every Cent Counts — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:53:44 +0000

But don’t prepaid debit cards charge an activation fee? That seems to defeat the purpose of not getting charged extra fees? Why not just be careful with your checking account and know how much you have in there versus how much you’ve written checks for? It’s really not that hard.