Upside Visa® Debt-free Prepaid Card

From the CompareCards.com Editorial Team:

The Upside Prepaid is a not a conventional credit card because in order to use it you first have to load your account with cash – so it is basically a Visa card with no interest payments, no late fees, and cardholder control of the spending limits. It may also be the most sensibly priced prepaid card on the market.

No credit check is required and with this particular prepaid there is no activation fee. That makes it cheaper to get than most prepaid cards, but there are other savings too because the Upside charges far fewer miscellaneous fees than do many of the competitor’s prepaid cards. There is a monthly fee of $2.99, for example, which is cheaper than most. But it can be reduced to just 99 cents if you load $500 onto the card during the month. Using an ATM to withdraw cash costs $1.70 per transaction but it’s free to get cash back at the point of sale during a retail transaction. Customer service also costs $2.99 per call by phone, but you can get free customer service via email.

You can also do free direct deposit from your employer and use the card account to pay bills online. There is also a rewards program that lets you earn up to 15% cash back when you shop in the Upside online mall, and you can earn five points per dollar spent to refill a cell phone. Meanwhile you get 1,000 bonus points if you sign up for direct deposit. That’s worth $10.

The Bottom-Line
As far as prepaid cards go, this is probably the most reasonably priced one on the market and it also has a cash back or discount rewards program. There is no credit check and if you load at least $500 per month your monthly fees drop to under a dollar a month. Meanwhile it is accepted anywhere that Visa cards are honored.

The Good
This is probably the best prepaid Visa card on the market in terms of offering a simple and affordably priced fee schedule. There is no credit check required and you can earn a bonus for signing up for direct deposit. There is also a rewards program feature.

The Not So Good
Since this is a prepaid card your credit is limited to the amount of money you deposit to the card account ahead of time.