I live in the US. A friend from Australia will be visiting the US and she does not have a credit card. She would like to have a prepaid credit/debit card in the US, for obvious reasons. You cannot rent a car with cash, for example.
She could
- (a) bring cash with her to US, and open/acquire a debit card with that.
- (b) open/acquire a debit card account and wire money from her Australian bank onto the US debit card.
- (c) any other reasonable option in this scenario.
Do debit cards require ID to use them? One obvious solution would be that I as a US citizen get a debit card, she bring me cash, I put it on the card, give her my card, and she uses the card. Of course, the debit card and her ID have different names. I surmise this is no problem at a gas station but it may not fly well at airlines or motels.