tobyjug472002:

Re: Prepaid Credit Cards:

I dont know if anyone else have had any dealings with Prime Card Mastercard, its a Mastercard, and it purchased for the measley price of £3.00, available from most retail outlets displaying the PayPoint Logo. I got one no problems at all, and if approved for just a further £2.95 you can upgrade it, so you can withdraw cash from ATM's etc, plus shop online, pay bills online etc.,

Its just a case of topping it up as you would a pay as you go mobile phone, its not a credit-card so you can only spend what you load onto it, may be worth having a look for someone wanting a Mastercard..

Hope this may help people in a same situation as myself, turned down by Co-operative Bank, and no chance of even a basic account without a debit card from any Bank associated with Royal Bank of Scotland ( Natwest being one of them)

Seems a lot of the big Banks are affiliated to Royal Bank of Scotland, so from personal experience they are not worth a carrot if you are in receipt of State Benefits and have any adverse Credit History!!

Regards

I am also looking into getting a Mastercard Prime and I just need to know whether there are any 'hidden charges' you are aware of? I'm aware of the transaction fee (50p to £1, which is fine), the reload fee (2% of what you reload) and the dormancy fee (£2.95 if you don't spend at least once a month from the card). All of these conditions are ok by me, as a) I'm using it mainly online, so even taking the small transaction fee into account, I'd still save a lot over buying in stores, b) I'd most likely only load what I need onto the card at any one time and then make my purchase and c) I easily buy more than one DVD/Game/CD or whatever each month!

For example, if you have no balance on your card and you get a dormancy fee of £2.95, does this come off your card the next time you have sufficient money on it, or is the money 'requested' another way?

I haven't got a valid passport currently, or any utility bills in my name as I don't own the house and my phone is pay as you go! Will I need either of these if I want to upgrade the Prime card to reloadable?

Thanks for any help.