Some prepaid debit cards might linked to a bank account, but most prepaid cards do not show up on your credit report. Another option is to open a secured credit card. Secured cards are guaranteed by a deposit you make with the credit grantor and offer the purchasing power of a major credit card. If the grantor reports payment histories to the three major credit-reporting companies, you are building a positive payment history by using your card.

Thanks for reading, and make sure to come back to the blog again soon.

Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you back on the blog again soon.

While banks do charge fees – and those fees are going up, there are ways to get around most of those fees, if you’re careful about how you spend your money and what kinds of services you’re paying for. If you feel you’re unfairly charged by a bank, there is a road for recourse and often times, banks will unwind fees for good customers.

Stored value/pre-paid cards are non-negotiable in terms of fees. You’ll pay to carry the card and use the card. You’ll pay to withdraw cash. You don’t get interest on your money, and you don’t help build your credit history. On the plus side, it’s difficult to spend more than you have.

About that ATM charge – if you’re inside a bank’s network, you don’t pay ATM fees. I use my bank’s network of ATM machines and haven’t paid an ATM charge in years. It’s less likely that that will be the case with a pre-paid debit card.

There are relatively few people who don’t qualify for a checking or savings account. And, banks are still offering free accounts, though some fees are creeping in there as well. If you have a history of bouncing checks then, yes, you might have trouble getting a checking account. But if you’re an average citizen, even a thin or non-existing credit history shouldn’t preclude you from getting a checking or savings account. There is always a bank or credit union that will want that business.

To your last point, I want to be clear that the Equifax Finance Blog does not accept money from companies to publish articles that feature a particular point of view. Our blog is entirely editorially independent. Other than the credit blog, which Equifax creates, all of the content on the site is generated by Think Glink Publishing, and its network of contributors.

Thanks again for your comments.

Also prepaid cards don’t have overdraft which banks make hundreds of millions of dollars from consumers each year. Bank of America even charges a higher monthly fee on the student accounts if you don’t tie the teens account to the parent allowing overdraft.

Most prepaid cards have the same exact ATM fees as do big bank, so the reality is banks are not cheaper in this instance. As far as loading goes, most if not all prepaid have “free” loading if you do direct deposit from your employer or ACH transfer from a checking account.

Lastly these products fill an need for those Americans who can not get or do not qualify for a checking or savings account as they are able to get a prepaid card which acts exactly the same as a bank checking/debit account.

This article and commenter are either (1) clearly being paid by big banks to write untruths “or” (2) are totally uneducated about the what they are talking about and need to do more research. in either case they should not be writing anything pertaining to this subject until they know the facts. Please do consumers a favor and tell the truth maybe do some number comparisons to show consumers rather thank being general. The numbers tell the truth. So be a responsible writer and Managing Editor and tell the real truth.