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@fuzzybean wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@fuzzybean wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@jsickz32 wrote:ok thanks guys. one more question...when i check online says to go to my nearest chase branch to apply and theres none in my state i think. so that means i cant have the liquid card?
Why would you want one? Prepaid cards are typically for people who are underbanked anyway. In your case, just use your Amex or other card, I'm struggling to find a reason for your obtaining a prepaid and there's good reasons not to: extra fees in most cases, money earning Amex interest instead of you (with their prepaid), and it hinders your chances at underwriting on more prestigeous credit cards in the future. as many of those will look at your historical spending and the prepaids don't show up at all on your credit report.
All the disadvantages and more than a hidden tradeline, and none of the benefits honestly.
My personal recommendation is to run everything you can through your cards, the one exception I'd suggest is if you're using this for your children's or another individual's benefit. Then a prepaid might make financial sense rather than an AU on a card.
I don't know what the poster's reason is, but my husband and I both have one that we use for our fun money. We reload it on the first of each month and have never paid a fee on it. We were using cash for our "allowance" but that never worked out. This is much better for us.
What do you mean by underbanked?
That's a fair point regarding allowance type spending, though if manageable I would still suggest routing that through a credit card (even a toy limit one) instead.
By underbanked (industry term probably used loosely in my case) I mean those without a checking account, and also without credit cards / other loan products. Admittedly that's on the order of 20% of Americans these days, but if you have a checking account even a debit card is comparable and financially better when it comes to fractional interest; however, a prepaid admittedly has some additional protections if it gets lost / stolen in that it doesn't deduct directly from your bank account.
We do it this way so that we can't go over our $100 limit per month, unless of course there is still some on there from the previous month which is usually the case for me. I usually treat myself to Starbucks once a week and use it if I go out to lunch or dinner with friends. It's stricly for our budget and hubby likes that I don't ask him for receipts, which he usually fails to get. The CC would work well for me, but hubby is better off logging into his prepaid account and seeing how much money he has left for the month. It has dramatically cut down on his impulse spending.
Thank you for the explanation. I figured it was something like that.
i kinda want it for this reason aswell. i recently turned 21 so im new to the whole bars, stripclubs and clubs. i want to get this card and put whatever limit i want to spend that night. ive spent way more than what i wanted sometimes just because i had my debit card with me.
@Revelate wrote:
@fuzzybean wrote:Can't you apply online? That's what we did with the Amex prepaid.
The Chase liquid is a different product strata than the Amex. You pretty much have to have a checking account or some other elecronic transaction to my knowledge of the Amex prepaid (I had one briefly), whereas you don't need a bank account at all for the Chase prepaid.
The Amex card is sort of a gateway to a future Amex in theory regardless of what their marketing information states; the Chase liquid is really a gateway to a Chase checking account. They serve different segments of the population when it comes to credit / banking strata... and also why the fee structure is radically different I suspect as well.
Oh, I didn't know that.
I don't mind the wait on the Amex since I never use up what I have on it. I have it set to auto-reload on the 27th of each month and it's always been available on the 1st for us to use.
I don't like Chase. They are one of the CC companies that went from having my account as a charge-off and not into collections when it was included in our bankruptcy that was discharged 12/07.
@jsickz32 wrote:
@fuzzybean wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@fuzzybean wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@jsickz32 wrote:ok thanks guys. one more question...when i check online says to go to my nearest chase branch to apply and theres none in my state i think. so that means i cant have the liquid card?
Why would you want one? Prepaid cards are typically for people who are underbanked anyway. In your case, just use your Amex or other card, I'm struggling to find a reason for your obtaining a prepaid and there's good reasons not to: extra fees in most cases, money earning Amex interest instead of you (with their prepaid), and it hinders your chances at underwriting on more prestigeous credit cards in the future. as many of those will look at your historical spending and the prepaids don't show up at all on your credit report.
All the disadvantages and more than a hidden tradeline, and none of the benefits honestly.
My personal recommendation is to run everything you can through your cards, the one exception I'd suggest is if you're using this for your children's or another individual's benefit. Then a prepaid might make financial sense rather than an AU on a card.
I don't know what the poster's reason is, but my husband and I both have one that we use for our fun money. We reload it on the first of each month and have never paid a fee on it. We were using cash for our "allowance" but that never worked out. This is much better for us.
What do you mean by underbanked?
That's a fair point regarding allowance type spending, though if manageable I would still suggest routing that through a credit card (even a toy limit one) instead.
By underbanked (industry term probably used loosely in my case) I mean those without a checking account, and also without credit cards / other loan products. Admittedly that's on the order of 20% of Americans these days, but if you have a checking account even a debit card is comparable and financially better when it comes to fractional interest; however, a prepaid admittedly has some additional protections if it gets lost / stolen in that it doesn't deduct directly from your bank account.
We do it this way so that we can't go over our $100 limit per month, unless of course there is still some on there from the previous month which is usually the case for me. I usually treat myself to Starbucks once a week and use it if I go out to lunch or dinner with friends. It's stricly for our budget and hubby likes that I don't ask him for receipts, which he usually fails to get. The CC would work well for me, but hubby is better off logging into his prepaid account and seeing how much money he has left for the month. It has dramatically cut down on his impulse spending.
Thank you for the explanation. I figured it was something like that.
i kinda want it for this reason aswell. i recently turned 21 so im new to the whole bars, stripclubs and clubs. i want to get this card and put whatever limit i want to spend that night. ive spent way more than what i wanted sometimes just because i had my debit card with me.
If it keeps you within your budget, then go for it!
If the product fits your needs then by all means, go for it! Check out the thread below about the AMEX Serve and all the free money everyone that signed up received .
I did get a $25 gift card for each of ours for getting the prepaid.
do i automatically get the $25 when i open the card? or do i need to call or put a promo code?
You automatically get the $25. You will see an instant credit to your Serve account. FYI, the $25 offer expires at the end of the month.
The Amex Serve seems like a way for people to spend more money. I'm happy with the prepaid reloadable Amex. I don't need Zynga rewards and woudln't use the aps or use it for anything other then fun money. But, I'm sure it's great for others.
No, it says "Serve" on the front.