Quote:
Originally Posted by AGDee
All that said, hypo and I have been discussing her getting a student card in case of real emergencies with her several states away and no convenient way to get her money. For years she has had a VisaBuxx teen card which is like a secure card that I could put funds on right from my checking account. The bank we have her VisaBuxx card from is no longer going to participate in the program so we have to find a new option. Her having that card has been wonderful for us because I could put cash on it and she could go school clothes shopping, buy gas, pick up groceries for me, etc. I could transfer money to it online and it was immediately available to her. There was no annual fee but there was a $2.00 fee each time I put cash on it, so we tried to anticipate her needs in advance and put exactly what we needed on it. I felt better about her having that than carrying a bunch of cash around with her. She used it when she went to Europe and I could monitor how she was spending her money and whether she would need more. It was great when she was in NYC last summer and she could use it for her baggage fees and taxi's to and from the airport without carrying huge amounts of cash. We loved that card and I'm sad that it's going away!
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If you want to stick with the prepaid debit card option, you may consider the AMEX prepaid card. I use it (I don't like paying bills from my checking -- all bills/"bar" money is on the prepaid) and there's no annual fee or reload fee (unless you reload using Greendot/MoneyPak).
ETA:
The card I use says it also builds your AMEX history (read: not credit history) so they can have an idea how you manage money, should you ever apply for one of their cards.
There's also a
teen card, if you want to check that out.
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