When i first heard someone tell me that “there are prepaid credit cards”, i thought to myself, “what on earth are they talking about.” I then took it upon myself to do some research and find out if they actually do exist and they actually do and i thought i’lld share my findings with you today.

Basically it is a credit card which functions exactly the same way as a normal credit card but you can not get into credit with it. Once the amount preloaded onto your card has finished that is it, you can not use the card anymore until you ‘top it up’. It uses the same concept as a prepaid cellphone line.

So i thought, what would the benefit of such a card be? Well the answer is simple, not everyone qualifies to have a credit card, especially now in South Africa with the new National Credit Act (NCA) but a credit card is so convinient in doing day to day transactions without carrying cash. But then one may argue that you can just use your debit card. True but there are some transactions that a debit card will not allow you to do. First one that comes to my mind is buying airline tickets online.

I know it has happend to many people, you get online and want to book a flight and they ask you to pay by credit card, you don’t have one and then you stuck. Now if you have a prepaid credit card, you know that you can use it to buy your ticket online, as long as you have a sufficient balance in your card. This will not only be limited to purchasing airline tickets but also all your internet shopping where a credit card is required.

I think this is a great product and would do well in South Africa and would definetly overcome the barrier that is not allowing people in South Africa to do a lot of online shopping because they may not have a credit card or they are affraid to use their credit card online for the fear of having the credit card information ’stolen’.

To find out more about prepaid credit cards and if you are interested in obtaining one, visit  www.globalcard-services.com and find out more.