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What is the cheapest prepaid credit card available for sale? The card needs to be a Visa, Mastercard, or Discover. And it needs to have a minimum nominal balance of 1 USD. I just need the number and it needs to be a valid card that is authorized.

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No Amex? A pity. They just came out with the AmEx BlueBird, with very few fees (in particular, no monthly fees - which I presume you'd prefer to avoid). – fennec Oct 16 '12 at 19:30

2 Answers

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While this is a localized question that will change over time, nerdwallet.com tracks what they think are the best

http://www.nerdwallet.com/prepaid/

The deal with the prepaid cards is they shift around all the time, with who is the best at any given time being something you must shop for.

So, here are the ways to shop for a prepaid card

Look for the fees

  • Monthly fees
  • Transactions fees
  • ATM Fees
  • Fees to purchase the card
  • Fess to reload the value on the card
  • Balance inquiry fees
  • Bill pay fees
  • Inactivity fees (which should tell you this isn't a great deal)

Look for limits

  • ATM withdrawal limits
  • Daily transaction limits
  • Which ATMs you can use

How to you put money on the card

  • Will it accept direct deposits?
  • Is there a fee for that?

Other Gotchas

  • Can you use it where you want to use it?
  • Will the card report to credit reporting agencies?
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The Visa cards I've seen are $4.95 and can be loaded with up to $500. There may be lower value cards that cost a bit less, $3.95 if I recall.

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