AccountNow Vantage Card (Debit)

The AccountNow® Prepaid MasterCard® is a debit Visa or MasterCard great for anyone with past credit problems who might find it hard to obtain a standard credit card. While this prepaid card isn’t a credit card in the sense that you can charge items and pay for them later, it does provide many of the benefits of a regular credit card.

AccountNow® Prepaid MasterCard®

Instant Guaranteed Approval* – no credit check, no security deposit $0 ACTIVATION FEE – when you load your card by direct deposit Free Direct Deposit – no more check cashing fees Free Online Bill Pay – no need for expensive money orders Free Credit Builder* – bill pay transactions are reported to PRBC® No Overdraft Fees – no minimum balance required Advance loan option, no credit check needed.* Reloadable - $10,000 balance limit Now with the iAdvance loan option

Since the card we used for the review purposes is a "MasterCard", it’s accepted in all locations where MasterCard is accepted, allowing you to make credit card purchases. While the card behaves like a debit card, it doesn’t require you to open a bank account to use the card and isn’t tied to any existing checking or savings account that you have. However, you are required to make payments before you can use the card. Payments that you make are held in an account and used to offset your purchases made with the card.

Loading money onto the card is relatively easy. You’re able to have payroll checks direct deposited and loaded to your card. You can also wire money from your bank account or use MoneyGram ExpressPayment. You have the ability to load a minimum of $10.00 and maximum of $5,000 onto your card on a given day. The maximum you can have loaded onto your Vantage card at any time is $10,000.

Certain fees apply to usage of the card. A non-refundable $9.95 activation fee applies. A monthly maintenance fee of $4.95 also applies. The minimum amount of fees in the first year is $129.35, if you have the least costly account plan. There’s also a $0.50 fee for each transaction made using your PIN.

Like many prepaid credit cards, the AccountNow® Prepaid MasterCard® does not offer many benefits beyond basic usage of the card to make purchases. It does provide a free bill paying service and boasts the ability to improve your credit through its bill paying feature. When you use the bill pay service to pay your bills, you can elect to have this information sent to PRBC, a national credit reporting agency. PRBC then uses this information to compile a bill paying score. Note only the first seven bill pay transactions each month are free.

If you are interested in the AccountNow® Prepaid MasterCard®, you have three different account plans to choose from. Each of these plans has a different fee schedule, so it’s important to review the terms and conditions of each before deciding on a plan.

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