If you do not qualify for a credit card due to poor credit or credit history, the AccountNow prepaid debit card is a great option for you. Or perhaps you have perfect credit and can qualify for any card out there, but you are searching for a safer way to give your children or college students money for their activities or expenses. This prepaid debit card is, once again, a great choice. It has flexible options, reasonable fees and great features, including bill pay, text alerts and a cash back rewards program.
If you will be using your prepaid debit card frequently, AccountNow recommends that you choose to use the Gold Card with direct deposit. There is no account set-up fee or activation fee with the Gold Card if you load at least $2,500 to your account each calendar month. If you are not able to load $2,500 to your card, and will be using your prepaid card only for occasional use, you can use the AccountNow Card Classic. You will be charged an initial, one-time only fee of $4.95. We recommend that you do opt for the Gold Card, as has more flexible features and fee schedule, if you can meet the monthly load requirement.
You will encounter various fees for both cards, including:
- ATM balance inquiry: $1.00
- ATM transaction decline: $0.40
- ATM withdrawal: $2.50 plus ATM fees
- Bank teller cash advance: $4.95 per transaction
- Card replacement: $10.00
- Monthly paper statement: $2.95
- International ATM withdrawal: $4.95 per transaction
- Foreign currency conversion: 2.95 percent of total purchase amount
- Purchase transaction: $1 for the Classic Card, no fee for the Gold Card
- Cash back: $1 per transaction for the Classic Card, no fee for the Gold Card
- Debit decline fee: $5 for each occurrence, only allowed one decline fee per month
- Card account closure: $15.95 per request to close the account and bring the balance to zero
The Gold Card allows you to enroll in direct deposit. If you do this, you will forgo other fees associated with contacting customer service. If you do use the Gold Card and you have direct deposit, you can make calls to the automated phone system and talk with a customer support agent for free. However, if you use the Gold Card but do not enroll in direct deposit, you will pay a fee of $0.50 per call to use the automated phone system and a $1.00 per call to speak to a customer service agent.
The minimum age requirement (which is stated in the cardholder agreements) for the majority of prepaid cards on the market is 18, and 16 or 17 for minors with adult permission. This prepaid debit card's agreement states that you must be at least 14 years old to sign up for this card with adult permission. This is ideal for parents who don't want to give their kids cash, as it tends to get lost or stolen, or is just unaccounted for. You can load your high school or college student's prepaid card to use for school trips, books, rent, groceries, etc. Note: You are only allowed to have one card assigned to your account per year.
More and more companies are allowing customers to pay their bills online, which is faster, safer, more efficient and, with AccountNow, guaranteed. You will receive an email as soon as your payment is processed.
AccountNow's prepaid debit card enables you to pay your bills online or over the phone with your card. We all have to pay our gas and electricity bills, rent or mortgage, car payment and more. With this prepaid debit card, you can set up recurring transfers for these monthly expenses. You can choose to send your payments electronically, or, for example, if your landlord doesn't accept this transaction, AccountNow will automatically send a check to the payee. No fuss, no muss.
If you have a mobile phone that accepts text messages, you can set up the Mobile Text Alerts feature. You will submit your phone number and mobile provider to AccountNow. This simple step enables you to request information about your prepaid account, including the account balance, transaction history, deposit alerts and more. Although this is a free feature, your mobile provider may charge texting and usage fees.
This prepaid debit card offers a Purchase Reward Program, which gives you cash back just for using your card. You do not get to specially choose your rewards, but you will receive offers based on your spending habits. There is no limit to the cash that you can earn.
"How can I add cash to my card?" This is one of the most frequently asked questions about prepaid debit cards. For the AccountNow prepaid debit card, there are several options, including:
- MoneyGram
- Reloadit
- Green Dot MoneyPak
- Western Union
- Visa ReadyLink
- Direct deposit
You are able to add money to your prepaid card up to 30 times within a 30-day period with every one of these options except for Western Union. You can only add money to your prepaid card up to 10 times within a 30-day period with this option.
Unlike other prepaid credit or debit cards, there is no minimum amount that you must load each time you add money to your card. Although there is no minimum amount, there is a daily maximum load amount, and that amount varies depending on which load method you use. If the source of your money load is direct deposit, the limit is $6,000 - $7,500. If you're making a cash deposit, you can load up to $1,500 per day. You are allowed to load up to $9,500 per month to the prepaid debit card if you use the cash-load option.
The following are the cash-load limits for the other funding options:
Green Dot – You can load $1,500 up to four times per day; $3,500 up to seven times per week and $5,000 up to 20 times per calendar month.
MoneyGram – You can make a cash deposit of up to $999.00 per day
Western Union – You can make a cash deposit of up to $950.00 per day, or $9,500 up to 10 times in 30 consecutive days.
While these are great load options, we really wish that AccountNow enabled you to load money to the prepaid debit card using your PayPal account or a bank transfer.
The AccountNow Help Center is fantastic. Each item on the list of help topics links to another page, which has detailed information. In the FAQs section, each answer is well written and easy to understand.
If the help center and FAQs do not satisfy your need, you can reach the help desk Monday through Saturday, 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST, and Sunday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. PST; or you can email customer service anytime.
AccountNow provides a prepaid debit card that is easy to use and flexible. AccountNow allows you to give a card to your children ages 14 and up. You can give money to your children or college students without the worry of it being misplaced, and you can track every transaction, so you know they are spending their money wisely. We do wish that there were more ways to load money to your card, including PayPal and bank transfer options, which would make the card more accessible.
