Splash
PlasticZyra's front page //// Categories //// Finance //// Credit Cards //// site index
PRE-PAID
CARDS
Like credit cards for buying stuff online except you can't go
into debt!
Also see credit cards, and other kinds of cards
Something which had
similarities to a pre-paid card some time ago was the Connect
Card by Barclays
After the Credit
Crunch (or Credit Crisis, whichever you like to call it), normal
credit cards where you could end up going seriously into debt
with arbitrary credit limit became less fashionable, in favour of
PRE-PAID CARDS, which had the advantage that you could buy stuff
online but without the disadvantage
of being associated with
living on borrowed money. Pre-paid cards brought money back into
the realms of reality with a factual zero point like the bottom
of a pocket or purse, with a balance above "zero" or
"empty". Thus, pre-paid cards had the advantage of the
realism of CASH, but the flexibility and virtuality of being able
to buy stuff online. (Cash always had the drawback that you
couldn't stuff it down a phone line, even with an advanced data
modem. Putting banknotes through a fax machine isn't an
acceptable form of payment).
Another thing about pre-paid cards is that there's none of the problem where banks look down their noses at you for being a bad credit risk or for having owed a lot of money in the past. With a pre-paid card they are not lending you money, so it's none of their business whether you are a good or bad credit risk. This keeps things a lot simpler.
