Compare Best UK Prepaid Credit Cards

Who Can Get A Prepaid Credit Card 

Prepaid Credit Cards are available to almost everyone and the age restrictions placed on standard credit cards do not apply either (in fact certain cards are available to people as young as 8). This is because although, in common vernacular, we tend to refer to prepaid card products as "prepaid credit cards" there is actually no credit element to them. They are essentially debit cards, like those we get with our bank accounts. They can be "loaded" with money (have funds added to an account) in a variety of different ways (direct from a bank account, through certain shops, by credit card online) and the individual using the card can never exceed the total amount that has been loaded onto it. For this reason there's very little financial risk to an issuer accepting a customer. In fact the only real risk a prepaid credit card issuer is ever exposed to in that the customer will not spend/load enough to generate income for the issuer enough to cover the costs of servicing the account and this risk only applies to those prepaid operators who don't charge a monthly fee. Many prepaid cards do require the payment of a monthly fee. In some sense it's almost like being charged for a bank account and indeed many people do use prepaid credit card as a type of basic bank account. 

What Should I Look For When Comparing Prepaid Credit Cards 

All prepaid cards are different, and the market itself is much fractured, so a definitive list of elements you should compare is almost impossible - it really depends on what you want. That said, there are a couple of common things you might want to compare regardless of the specific type of prepaid credit card you want. Firstly check the direct charges. These are either paid upfront (to acquire the card) or on a monthly basis. Few cards have no direct charges (and those without should expect even closer scrutiny to discover where the issuer expects to make money), but there are a few travel without. Next you should investigate the transaction fees, both for loading the card and spending on it. We have come to expect most of this for free with our bank accounts, but these costs (which they incur) are compensated for by way of limited interest on our balance etc. Check both of those with a good understanding of how you expect to use the card (where you'll spend, how much, how often and what you typically need from ATMs in a given month) and you should, with the aid of our comparison tables, be able to get the right prepaid credit card for you.