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A lot of lenders and other large financial institutions are adding prepaid debit cards to their offerings. Chase is among the mainstream establishments jumping on the prepaid card bandwagon. The cards are being rolled out this summer. How often have you expected more details on where can i get a payday loan, and turned to a web site search on "fast online payday loans?" Look no further, all of the details you'll need is at Match Financial.


A few large players


Prepaid debit cards are not the type of first-tier financial product one associates with the big players in personal finance, but a good number of them already do or are beginning to supply them. Visa and MasterCard have prepaid debit cards, as does American Express. In the past few months, Wells Fargo and Regions Financial have both started supplying prepaid debit cards also, according to the New York Times.


Yet another large financial institution is entering the prepaid debit card business, according to the Washington Post. JPMorgan Chase is going to start providing a prepaid card at all branches nationwide. It's called the Chase Liquid card and it is already accessible at roughly 200 branches, but will be made available at all branches over the summer.


A fantastic thing to supply


A lot of people speculate on why Chase would make this move, but it is probably a combination of a couple of things. Chase most likely wants to get some fee revenue and offer a service that would usually be out of reach for some customers.


The card carries a $4.95 monthly maintenance fee. A minimum deposit of $25 or more to open the card is required, according to CNBC, but reloading fees are waived if checks or cash is deposited to the card's account at “reload friendly” Chase ATMs, of which there are 10,500 nationwide. Cash withdrawal from Chase ATMs is free.


There is a Durbin Amendment to the Dodd Frank Act that limits interchange fees that banks charge. This means the average fee for a debit card is now about 0.25 percent of the transaction. Prepaid cards do not apply to that rule though, which means the swipe fees are usually 1.70 percent of the transaction. This can be a benefit banks have noticed.


Why you should get one


There are over 22,000 ATMs in the MoneyPass network that Green Dot holders can use for free. This is just one of the many benefits that prepaid cards have over debit cards with checking accounts, according to CNN. You can get around withdrawal and reloading charges with much of the cards, and they will never overdraft. You will be denied if there is no cash left on the card.


However, the charges on prepaid cards can add up. A Nerdwallet survey found the average prepaid debit card incurs nearly $300 in charges, compared to $110 for most debit card accounts at major banks. Any person planning to choose one up would do well to shop around to find the prepaid card with the lowest fee structure.



Sources


New York Times

Washington Post

CNBC

Baltimore Sun: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business...,7161777.story

CNN: http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/08/pf/p...-what-to-know/