Just in Time for the Holidays: A Reloadable Card with Fun Designs - Musings from Me on Kids, Preteens, and Teens: Seizing Family Time

Disclosure: I was sent a $25 Card.com Visa card to facilitate my review. The views expressed in this post are my own.

Scene: My kitchen on a school morning.Kid #1: I need to buy Fall Festival tickets!
Kid #2: I want to buy lunch!
Kid #3: I want to go to the school store!
Me: Aaaarrrgghhh! I don’t have any cash!

And…scene!

Any time a kid needs $$, I can guarantee two things…(1) I won’t hear about the need for $$ until the morning the $$ is needed, and (2) If I do have $$, I generally only have quarters. I don’t carry cash.Generally, I pay with plastic for everything. I’d rather not carry wads of cash in my wallet. I charge the majority of purchases with one credit card as I get sizable cash rewards. Cash may be king, but credit cards are on the royal court.

I like gift cards, too! I’m hard to buy for. Basically, I have what I need. I read, but would rather choose my own books. I watch DVDs, but prefer to pick out which ones I want to buy. I love going to the movies or out to dinner and love nothing more than using a gift card. In fact, the past few birthdays and holidays, I have been the very lucky recipient of gift cards from family and friends. I LOVE sorting through that stack of gift cards. But, once I use a gift card, that’s it, the card is done and I throw it away.

Do you ever look at the racks of gift cards in the store and think “Wow, why don’t they ever have fun, personalized designs?” Oh, you’ll see a couple of Happy Birthday designs and maybe a Congratulations Graduate, but that’s it. Often, when I am shopping for a gift card I have to settle for a design that is O.K., but not what I was looking for.

Enter Card.com. Card.com is a Prepaid Visa Card that you can use like cash. Card.com cards are debit cards. These cards are like the debit cards from your bank. You can use these cards everywhere Visa is accepted. But there are two big differences, (1) You can load money on to the card, and (2) Card.com debit cards come in many, many different designs. Way cooler and cuter than your bank card!

This card is not a gift card, so you can’t give or receive the card as a gift. But, it’s better than a gift card because you don’t use it once and then toss it, but instead you get to show off your Card.com debit car over and over.

Here’s what you need to know about Card.com Debit Cards:

Free to order, activate, and load. No sign up fees. No credit check with verified ID.
Free Card.com app from iTunes or GooglePlay.
Free direct deposit, so you can keep using the card over and over again.
Free card-to-card transfers, any time, anywhere, in seconds.
No overdraft or late fees. The Card.com debit card never goes negative!
No minimum balance.
No debt, financially responsible, and no interest/credit/APRs.
No credit check and approval in seconds.
You can check deposits from your smartphone.
Safer than cash with 24/7 customer support, Visa fraud protection, and 100% FDIC insurance on funds.
Can use at 22,000 in-network ATMs.

The process for signing up for a card was easy…just how I like it. No hassle. I signed up and waited for my Card.com to be delivered. It was delivered to me in less than a week.

One more thing you should know. The card is free for 30 days. After 30 days, there is a $5.95 monthly fee, which is waived if you direct deposited over $800 in the previous 30 days. This fee is the same as a Walmart prepaid card and way less than many other competitors. It’s also much less than overdrafting your bank account, paying for a checking account, or using a credit card.

Choose from thousands of the coolest designs on the planet for your CARD.com Visa^® Prepaid Card.
Load money — Whether you add cash through easy direct deposit, Green Dot^® MoneyPak^®, ®, PayPal^® or photo-capture a check with our Android and iPhone apps, we make life simple by offering lots of convenient ways to load money onto your card. Plus help is 24/7 and always free.
Shop credit-free and worry-free — Use everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted. Enjoy the convenience of 23,000 in-network ATMs, no overdraft or late fees and 24/7 support. The only thing you’ll have to worry about is how to have more fun!
Set Up Direct Deposit –Take advantage of direct deposit and say goodbye to the hassle and fees of cashing your paycheck. PLUS get two free ATM withdrawals and pay $0 Monthly Maintenance Fee^*.
Tell your friends! — You can transfer funds between cardholders – absolutely free of charge – any time – anywhere. Help your friends and family take advantage of this and other awesome benefits of signing up with CARD.com.

The fun part of the process was choosing my card’s design. Can you guess what I chose? There were thousands of cool, unique card designs to choose from. I had many choices, which I loved. The sheer number of designs reminded me of the days when you choose personalized checks…because you used so many checks. Now I hardly write checks. The designs for the Card.com cards include brands like: