Credit Card Articles

Are you one of the millions of shoppers who recently received a prepaid credit card as part of a rebate on an item? If so you may find this information helpful, and if not you can be informed when and if you do receive one.

Many rebates on retail items require people to extra time to fill out forms, cut out proofs of purchase send this or that. It can be irritatingly difficult to the point where many consumers do not even bother to complete rebates that may even offer substantial savings.

People may associate plastic prepaid cards with similar credit or debit cards and this can give pause to people who are already in debt. There is often fine print to be wary of with credit cards, and so too with prepaid rebate cards, so they are often correct to feel this way.

This association with plastic cards being “full of drawbacks” is an additional factor as to why most rebate cards do not even get activated.

Even when they are activated, the likely way of receiving your rebate money is to spend it on items, so consumers may not be able to figure out how to withdraw the full amount from this card.

Here are some pitfalls of rebate cards:

• They often have a monthly fee (it is usually waived for the first three months)
• They have an expiration date
• Many banks will not allow you to withdraw all the money directly off them
• They may be closed or open loop. Closed means you can only buy items from the retailer on the card, open loop means it is accepted pretty much anywhere you can use a debit card and often issued by Visa or MasterCard

Ways to withdraw the full amount off your rebate card: Rebate card secrets.

And more info: What you should know about Prepaid cards.