Prepaid Visa cards are a great way to manage your finances and an effective alternative to carrying cash around. As a pre-funded card, you can only spend the amount of money that you have loaded onto it. Essentially, a prepaid Visa card works like a debit card, the key differences being that the card is not linked to a bank account and the amount on the card is entirely dependent on how much you load onto it.
Where can I use a Prepaid Visa card?
A prepaid Visa is part of the Visa network. This means that anywhere that accepts payment via Visa debit should accept your card. You can use your card to pay for bills or purchases from any participating business. Locations you can pay with your card are not just limited to physical retail locations either. You can use a prepaid Visa to cover an expense online, over the phone or by mail order. The card can also be used at ATMs to get cash out. Just remember that you are limited by the amount you have loaded onto your card, and payments will generally be immediately deducted.
If your card is rejected by a business, it may be because you have insufficient funds on it. In this case, you could split the cost between your prepaid Visa and another payment method. You can also add more funds to your card by reloading it. You can generally do this online or by calling your card provider.
Prepaid Visa card security
While a prepaid Visa card will generally have less money on it than a debit card linked to your bank account or a credit card, you should still take precautions. Make sure you report a stolen card to your provider as soon as possible to limit how much money on your prepaid card is used without your authorisation. You should also sign a card as soon as it arrives and make your pin something that’s not too easy to guess. This means no pins of all the same number and avoiding using your birth date or car plate number as the basis for your pin. You should also not write your pin down and leave it in your purse or wallet as this makes things very easy for thieves.
