Wired Plastic Prepaid Debit Card Review

I have been using my Wired Plastic Visa card for nearly a year. The program is a better alternative to All Access Prepaid Visa services. It does have its downfalls however. You are charged a monthly fee of $3.95 , for the privilege of using the card. It is accepted everywhere that accepts Visa. I would also like to point out that you are charged a fee of 95 cents every time you are required to use your pin number. Fortunately not many places ask for this info. In my experience I have only needed to enter a pin number at the grocery store. Additionally you are charged a fee of around $10 to activate your card.

The card is delivered to you quite fast once you request it. However there are some downfalls to using the Wired Plastic prepaid Visa. If you purchase gasoline at the pump, they will put a $50 hold on your account. Under normal circumstances this $50 hold is credited back to your account in a prompt and timely manner. However I have had several instances using the Wired Plastic prepaid Visa when I did not purchase gasoline at the pump , but I did occur "holds" or authorizations.

In my case I purchased my goods from the retailer, who I frequently shop with. I checked my balance several days later to find my transaction had posted, the retailer received the payment and I found I had an authorization pending for the same amount. It took over three months for my account to be credited for the amount which was pending. This made no sense at all considering the payment had cleared.

When contacting Wired Plastic for customer service issues you are left desiring much better service. To begin with it is not a toll free number for customer service, and at times you might be put on hold for quite a long time, which just runs up your phone bill. Also the customer service agents are not at all helpful. When I have had reason to call them for assistance I felt that the customer service reps went out of their way to be rude, and unhelpful. I actually had to be rude back on one occasion and request a supervisor, which I didn't get to speak to. I also had to resort to threats about contacting the better business bureau. They could make changes to greatly improve their service but I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

The good things about this card. It is easy to get. If you do not desire the commitment of a checking account this might be the card for you. You can direct deposit your paycheck into your account. You can also load your card via Western Union. That might be a nice feature for some people but I find the fees are too high for this service, it depends on the rates your local western union office charges.

You can use this card for pay-pal payments which is nice if you are doing business on line. All in all the card is affordable and convenient . Also Wired Plastic has a point program where you earn a point for each dollar you spend. You can only redeem the points for prepaid cell phone minutes. This is nice if you use a prepaid cell phone. However for some reason not all purchases earn points. I have no idea why and what the guidelines are as the company does not specify the details. If you don't have enough points for free airtime you will receive a discount of about $1 for every 200 points redeemed. I find it to be a much better value than the All Access Visa card. The fees are lower, and you are not charged a fee to check your balance via the phone, unlike The All Access Prepaid Visa. They were charging 50 cents per call for balance inquiries. When you think about it that is not a good thing when you have to spend money to find out how much money you have on your card.

About the best alternative to Wired Plastic I have found is Bank of America offers free on line checking with no monthly fees if you are able to open a checking account. The program is called My Access Checking and it is a reliable bank. It is definitely worth looking into if you need a checking account as well as a debit card. For those of you who would like to have a debit card without a major commitment Wired Plastic's Prepaid Visa should work out just fine for you.

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