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The Daily Insight Hub

Do prepaid credit cards cost money?

Author

Matthew Harrington

Updated on February 17, 2026

Some prepaid debit cards have lots of fees, including monthly fees, ATM withdrawal fees, loading fees, balance inquiry fees, transaction fees and even dormancy fees – also called inactivity fees – for not using your card for a period of time.

Is it worth getting a prepaid credit card?

Prepaid cards can be a great alternative to cash and traditional credit cards but have a few flaws. Prepaid cards are easy to obtain and require no credit check. You can use prepaid cards online or when you can’t pay in cash, but they won’t help your credit score.

Do prepaid cards already have money?

A prepaid debit card is much like a gift card: It allows you to spend whatever amount of money is stored on the card. Once the balance is used up, you can reload the card online or at an ATM, a participating store, or other physical location.

Can anyone buy a prepaid credit card?

You can buy prepaid cards at retail locations (such as grocery stores and drug stores), online, over the phone, or from some banks and credit unions. When you buy a prepaid card, you’ll have to pay the initial amount that you want to load onto the card, often termed the “initial load”, plus the cost of the card.

How much money can you put in a prepaid card?

Is There a Maximum Amount You Can Load Onto a Visa Prepaid Card? Most Visa prepaid card options will allow you to load up to $15,000 into the card account. If you’re accessing a reloadable prepaid card, you can continue to add money to your account when you spend some of your current balance.

What are the pros and cons of a prepaid card?

Pros & Cons of Prepaid Debit Cards

  • Prepaid debit cards have become quite popular in the past few years.
  • Prepaid debit cards do have some advantages over the traditional credit and debit cards.
  • * If your card is stolen your loss is limited to the amount on the card.
  • * Thieves can’t steal your information.

Are there any fees with a prepaid credit card?

Prepaid credit cards don’t allow overdrafts, so you’ll never have to pay that type of fee with this type of card. You’ll also never be charged interest or a late payment fee since prepaid cards aren’t debt and don’t require payments.

Where can I pay my bills with a prepaid card?

Other prepaid credit card bill payments may be made through the prepaid credit card issuer’s website. The Western Union NetSpend Prepaid MasterCard, for example, maintains a site where cardholders may make bill payments. There may be a fee for bill payments made through a prepaid credit card issuer’s website.

Can you use a prepaid MasterCard at a store?

For example, you may use a prepaid MasterCard at a store that accepts MasterCard credit cards. Note the following about prepaid cards issued by a financial institution: you can reload the card as many times as you want until it expires you usually won’t have to pay for transactions you didn’t make or approve

Is it easy to get a Visa prepaid card?

Make purchases anywhere Visa Debit cards are accepted. Plus, you don’t have to worry about overdraft fees, since your spending cannot exceed the available balance on your card. It’s easy to get a Visa Prepaid card and there’s no credit check required. Get a Visa Prepaid card.