Prepaid Debit Cards – An Alternative to a Checking Account?
Thursday, October 15th, 2009To save money on bank overdraft fees and avoid overspending, many people have switched to the increasingly popular prepaid debit card. This allows the owner to put money on the card and spend it just like cash. It seems both cheaper and more convenient, but are prepaid debit cards a better option for you than a bank account?
Fees
Although bank accounts seem to come with a lot of fees, prepaid debit cards seem to come with just as many and more. Just like a debit card that is attached to a checking account, a prepaid debit card will require you to pay a fee for ATM withdraws, stop payments, currency conversions, and for a new card if the old one is lost or broken. Like most checking accounts, there is probably a minimum balance as well.













