Do you feel wary about carrying a lot of cash? Would you rather carry a debit card but you can’t qualify for one? There are several companies that offer prepaid debit cards that may work for you. One of these is the NetSpend® Visa® Prepaid Debit Card which acts like a debit card but is much easier to get than a regular credit card since it is prepaid.

Prepaid means that you have to fund it before you can use it. Actually, that is the way most debit cards are meant to work. Generally a debit card gives you access to your checking account and the money is deducted from your account the instant you purchase something using the debit card. The NetSpend® Visa® Prepaid Debit Card gives you the opportunity to do this without having a checking account. You can add up to three cards to your account so if you wanted to have this as an emergency fund for your family, you could give your kids one of these.

They highly encourage you to fund your prepaid debit card with direct deposits. One of the benefits this would entitle you to is a 5% annual percentage rate savings account. With interest rates as low as they are in this economy, I find 5% very attractive. You want to be careful though. There are two payment plans for the  NetSpend® Visa® Prepaid Debit Card. Depending on how you plan to use this prepaid debit card, you will want a different payment option.

If this is meant as your emergency backup system in case someone in the family gets stranded without cash, then you do not want the plan with the monthly fee. You will want to apply for the payment plan that does not charge a setup fee or a monthly fee but rather charges on a per transaction basis. The ATM access fee is $2.50 which is quite standard these days. This payment plan also has per transaction fees of $1 or $2 depending on the type of transaction. That is perfect if you don’t plan to use it much. In fact, in combination with the 5% APR for direct deposit, this could be very attractive.

On the other hand if you are looking for a card that you want to use for most of your purchases, perhaps because you don’t have easy access to cash, you will want to consider the monthly fee plan, called FeeAdvantage. Your monthly fee is $9.95 but there are no per transaction fees other than the $2.50 ATM fee. One of the advantages of the NetSpend® Visa® Prepaid Debit Card is that there is no credit check. So even if you have no chance at being approved for a regular credit or debit card because of some financial problems in your past, you can get this one. The application can be completed online in about a minute.

Decide before you apply, how you plan to use this card so you can choose the appropriate plan for you. It doesn’t cost any money to get the card but once you use it, expect to pay fees. The fee you do avoid by selecting a prepaid debit card is the overdraft fee. Since the card has to be funded in advance, you will simply run out of available money. There will not be any extra fees because you spent more than you had. They do offer a $10 cushion if you qualify for their NetSpend Premier program which seems to require direct deposit. Luckily, direct deposit is free.