Green Dot Prepaid Visa Card - Review

By Laura Stenson

The Green Dot Visa & MasterCard are prepaid debit cards. You may be unfamiliar with debit cards so let me explain the basics.

Unlike with an unsecured card where the company issues it and attaches a limit on which they then charge interest as it is used. With this you must load or deposit money and that amount then becomes your limit.

Instead of making purchases and paying for them later, along with the interest rate and associated fees, you pay for your purchases beforehand by loading cash amounts. The issuer is Columbus Bank and Trust Company.

You will, at times, need to load and reload value onto the card. The minimum amount of the initial load is $20 and the maximum amount of the initial load is $2,500.

You may never have more than $2,500 loaded onto the card at any given time. To load or reload your Green Dot card, you may have a portion of your paycheck directly deposited to your card or you may purchase a Green Dot MoneyPak universal reload from locations such as Rite Aid, CVS, Eckerd, Radio Shack, The Pantry and other participating merchants. The MoneyPak costs $4.95.

The card charges a $4.95 per month maintenance fee, $2.50 for each ATM transaction ($3.00 per international ATM transaction, $4.00 per cash advance from a teller or non-ATM transaction), up to $1.00 per call to obtain your balance using the interactive voice response system or a live operator, and $10 fee to replace a lost or stolen card. Always be sure to read the Terms and Conditions before applying.

Columbus Bank and Trust Company also offers a Premier version of this card. Be sure to research the Premier card fees before moving forward.

Fees include, but are not limited to, a one-time $19.95 membership enrollment fee and a $5.00 fee per month if you do not load $750 per month to the card. Additional charges may accrue if you use an ATM.

Likewise, if you purchase one of these cards at a store, the retailer will charge an initial activation fee and a reload fee. Be sure to check with the retailer for the costs involved with purchasing one of these cards.

Personally, I would not apply for one of these cards, though I guess it would depend on your situation and why you need the card. Again, personally, I don't really feel that I want to pay to call someone's answering machine.

I also don't want to pay $5 per month merely because I don't reload $750 per month. I believe I should be the one to decide how much a balance I want to maintain.

Additionally, there are other cards which allow more flexibility as to reload options.

Instead we suggest the prepaid credit card the AccountNow Visa instead of the Green Dot Visa. You can also get a free credit consultation by calling 1-800-483-0256