Determine if you can use a credit card for everyday purchases and if you can use a debit card to pay your bills or use it to pay for your gas.
This is an introduction to credit cards and debit cards and you might need to review other topics on our website as well.
If you don’t know what you need to know about credit cards and debit cards or any of these topics, you can ask for help. You can find the information that we give about credit cards and debit cards on this website here.
How much do credit cards cost and when do I use them?
Credit cards and debit cards are more expensive than cash or checks and they have fees for every transaction. It is possible to purchase a prepaid debit card (Visa Checkout, Discover, or American Express) that doesn’t charge fees or to use a prepaid credit card (Paypal, Discover, or American Express) that doesn’t charge fees.
Prepaid cards are not secure. Prepaid cards are issued by private financial companies that are not required to follow the same security standards as their credit card issuers. This means they are less likely to have secure data on them and that they are more likely to be hacked. As a result, the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines for prepaid cards are not the same as those for credit cards. You should not use a prepaid card if it is not issued by an entity listed on the Federal Trade Commission’s Payment Card Act of 2009.
How do I check if a prepaid card is a credit card?
To determine if a prepaid card is a credit card, check the “Credit” column on the front of the card, and check the bottom of the card to verify that the card is issued by a card issuer.