Prepaid Credit Cards

PrepaidCreditCards.org.uk finds, compares & gives you a guide to Prepaid Credit Cards in the Uk.

These cards are very popular and offer you loads of advantages, they mean you can keep a hold of your spending and take the cards with you abroad as a safer alternative to foreign currency. Top Prepaid Credit Cards are available from some of the UK's top companies.

Find the right Prepaid Credit Card for you below!

Free Prepaid MasterCard : Pockit Prepaid Credit Card : Free to get with NO initial load. A popular choice and with cashback online and at retail outlets.

Also Popular : Cashplus PrePaid Credit Card : Free with a £10 initial load. A popular choice and established company.

We compare the best Prepaid Credit Cards which are also known as Prepaid Debit Cards. We let you know which UK companies offer which cards and at what rates. These cards are also known as Travel Cards, Prepaid Credit Card, Prepaid Debit Cards, Free Debit Cards, Free Switch Cards, Prepaid Switch Cards, Prepaid Maestro Cards and Prepaid Visa Cards. Often people use these travel cards on holiday in order to reduce the risk of losing cash or having to use expensive credit cards. The prepaid  credit cards cut this problem out by allowing you to preload cash onto the card and then to use it abroad for a small fee.

With the growing incidence of credit card fraud over the past decade, new and innovative methods of securely carrying a cash type payment method have emerged. Amongst these are prepaid credit cards.

The concept behind a prepaid credit card is that there is no pre-agreed credit limit against which you charge your spending. Instead, you acquire a card and deposit a sum of money onto the card so that it is a fixed, diminishing balance. So, as you spend money on the card, the balance reduces to nothing. If the card is stolen or lost, the maximum amount that is stolen is the unused balance available on the card and no more. Therefore, by charging the card with relatively small amounts, the risk due to fraud or misuse is significantly reduced. These are perfect credit cards for bad credit also known as credit cards for people with bad credit.

Card Provider	Application Fee	Monthly Fee	Transaction Fee	Top Up Fee	Withdrawal Fee	Apply
Orange PrePaid Card	*Exclusive* £5.00	None	None	Free	2.95%
Kalixa PrePaid Credit Card	*Most Popular Card* £4.95	None	None	From Free to £2	£1.75
CashPlus PrePaid Credit Card	*Best Seller* £4.95	Fee free for 3 mths then £4.95	None	Fee Free for 3 mths then £0.99	£0.99
Virgin Money Monthly Card	*Trusted Brand* £9.95	Free	2.95%	Various	2.95%
Vanquis Bank	*Rebuild Credit* Free. With Vanquis you rebuild your credit rating with a new bank account with prepaid card.	Fee's vary, see site for more details on the prepaid credit card and bank account that allows you to start rebuilding credit ratings. Representative 39.9% APR (variable)
ClearCash Payg Card	£4.50 (or £5 via sms) Unique Budgeting Tools + SMS facility	£0	2.5%	Various	£0.75

There are now a number of such prepaid cards available in the market place. Most have an application fee of up to £10, but some are free, and there is generally no monthly fee or charge to be paid. Cards can be topped up in any number of ways including a pre-agreed direct debit per month, by visiting the Post Office or other Bank, via an ATM or over the phone or on the internet. It is also possible to have your employer
pay part of your wages directly into your account. Also, like traditional credit cards, it is possible to have more than one account user so the same balance can be accessed via other members of the family or friends. In addition, you get all the purchasing protection from Visa and Mastercard that you would with a traditional credit card. Thus, your purchases are protected in the event of supplier default or liquidation.

There is a charge levied for topping up the card and this ranges from nothing at an ATM to a small transaction fee at a bank counter. The real costs are incurred when spending where a percentage (or fixed amount dependent on the transaction size) is charged per transaction. These vary by issuer and range from £1 fixed to 3% of the actual transaction amount. If you draw cash from an ATM, a different charge is levied ranging from 50 pence to 3%, dependent upon brand.

If you are not looking for an account where spending might get out of control, a pre paid credit cards could be a simple, safe and effective solution. Your application is guaranteed to be accepted and you can never
spend more than you can afford to put on it. As such, it is an excellent way of helping to manage your budget and stay in control of your spending.

Prepaid credit cards advantages

The number of cards and benefits available varies. One way to compare what is available is to look at a comparison website such as www.prepaidcreditcards.org.uk. Here you will see an easy tabular layout
comparing the main features of each of the most popular cards along with an easy click through to the main carrier's sites for further details and application forms. Think Money have a best prepaid credit card comparison list on their website here. However if you are looking for something abit different, you can get one of the leading balance transfer credit cards which also utilise contactless technology from Virgin Money.

• CaxtonFX
• FairFX
• Phones 4 U
• Virgin Money
• Western Union