Useful Pre-Pay Visa Cards

posted: 28/07/2009

Many people with HIV find getting debit and credit cards almost impossible, including migrants with HIV, and the gap could now be filled by pre-pay cards. These allow you to buy things and pay bills by plastic, including on the web, but you don't need a good credit score, or have enough regular income. You simply pay for credit to be added to the card as you can afford this.

O2 has launched a pre-pay Visa card for adults, called Cash Manager, which may finally make these products a viable choice for millions.

The chief attraction of Cash Manager is that it's free of charges. Until now, pre-pay cards have tended to levy an "issuing fee" (usually £10), monthly fees (up to £5 at some providers) and "reload" fees. They have largely been used as an alternative to travellers' cheques when overseas.

Good option for migrants

But now Britain's unbanked – especially recent migrants, but all those refused by banks – can obtain a Visa card for free. They'll be able to load it with cash at thousands of Paypoint and ePay terminals around the country, which will then allow them to buy goods over the net or over the phone.

The catch is that you have to have an O2 mobile. The cheapest deal the network offers right now is its Sim-only Pay & Go deal, although you have keep it active by topping up £10 every three months.

If you don't want to sign up with O2, there are plenty of other pre-pay deals, although all come with some level of charging.

Try the website what-prepaid-card to compare deals.

• Virgin has a MasterCard, which does not charge a monthly fee but has a start-up fee of £9.95.
• The Post Office offers its Travel Card, which has no issuing fee or monthly fee, but charges a 1.5% fee when re-loading money. Its big attraction is that it is an Electron card – so you can avoid the £5 that Ryanair charges on each leg of a flight.