If you are in the market for a credit or debit card you may have come across any number of so called "prepaid" Visa cards.
Normally we associate Visa and Mastercard with credit cards right? Well in the case of a prepaid Visa or MasterCard they are really a claytons credit card - the card you have when you don't have a credit card! Let me explain.
With prepaid cards you can only spend the amount of money that you have deposited into the card account.
There is absolutely no interest charges or over draw fees and there is no chance of you falling into a situation where you are stuck dealing with high interest rates because you can't pay the balance off.
So why not just use a normal keycard or checking account? The beauty of a prepaid card is that they bear either the Visa or Mastercard logo and as such are accepted at millions of locations around the globe.
Also transactions like paying bills, withdrawing cash and even any day to day spending is made so much easier and cheaper because they are affiliated with the Visa and Mastercard brand.
With the Baby Phat Prepaid Visa you not only get a flash looking pink card but you also entitled to a number of handy features such as free direct deposits to the card account for things like tax refunds, pay checks and government benefits.
The tell a friend feature is also pretty cool, for every friend that signs up and starts using their card you receive five dollars added to your card balance.
As with any finance or banking product there are charges that are involved but by reading and understanding these charges and being clever with the use of the card you can keep these charges to a minimum and enjoy the convenience that comes with a card that can be used anywhere a Visa or Mastercard is accepted.
Perhaps not a credit card, but certainly a more convenient way of meeting your banking needs.