Gift Card Resources

Prepaid visa gift cards? How do they work?

Are they just debit cards? Can you refill them? Do they ever expire and do you have to be 18 to purchase one? Are there strings attached or do you have to sign anything? Can I use it on my paypal to buy something on ebay?

Public Comments

1. They are just like a gift card. All you sign is your signature when you make a purchase in a store. You can refill them. They are great to have if you have no Checking acct. or credit card acct. You use them just like a Credit card but you don't pay interest! Yay! and there are no fees on most. Just be sure you read before you get it to ensure there are no fees. They may have an exp. date, but most do not.
2. Visa, or MasterCard for that matter, is a company in and to itself. It provides a method of purchase, similar in that regard to a bank and checks. What does this mean? It means that Visa works the same everywhere regardless of the source of the funds (Debit Card-your money, Credit Card-borrowing money, or visa gift cards-someone Else's money). You don't have to be 18 to have a Visa. The confusion lies in that you have to be 18 to borrow money so you can't have a credit card in your name until then. Visa itself doesn't care. The only potential downsides are this. First, you may or may not be able to deposit more money. The card may or may not expire. This is totally up to the company issuing the card so you'll have to contact them. The other downside is any money left on the card and never used they keep. This happens to the tune of tens of millions of dollars a year, which is why stores love gift cards.
3. That would depend entirely on which kind of card that you buy. I use a prepaid that does this that I found on http://debit-card-guide.com/gift_cards.htm and I can reload on my mine from my checking account. They even have one on that site that you can load at a Western Union office too. Really just comes down to what you are wanting it to do for you.