Image: Young red-headed woman with long hair holding a PayPal Prepaid Mastercard in her left hand, laptop on her lap
Marcie Geffner is a personal finance writer and has written for PNC Bank, Key Bank, BMO Bank, J.P. Morgan, Peoples Bank, Union Bank, LoanDepot, LendingTree and American Express. Editorial Note: Intuit Credit Karma receives compensation from third-party advertisers, but that doesn’t affect our editors’ opinions. Our third-party advertisers don’t review, approve or endorse our editorial content. Information about financial products not offered on Credit Karma is collected independently. Our content is accurate to the best of our knowledge when posted.
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The PayPal Prepaid Mastercard® prepaid card, offered by The Bancorp Bank and NetSpend, can be linked to your PayPal account once you’ve activated it, but watch out for fees. And if you don’t have a PayPal account, you won’t be able to access all of the features.
Do the math: How to get the most out of the PayPal Prepaid Mastercard®
Whether you should use a prepaid card depends on what you need from financial services.
This type of card can help you receive direct deposits, make purchases online and budget your money more effectively. Those benefits may be valuable if you have little or no credit history or you want to avoid having debt.
“Individuals can use prepaid cards to avoid checking account, money order and check-cashing fees, while still being able to safely store funds, pay bills online and share money among family members with companion cards,” Jackson says.
Plus, there’s typically, no credit check required to get a prepaid card. A prepaid card stores money that you preload onto it, so there’s no debt involved. No debt means there’s no need for a credit check, so major issuers don’t require one.
Bottom line: Is the PayPal Prepaid Mastercard® right for you?
This prepaid card might be a good choice for you if you love all things PayPal, you’re not trying to build or repair your credit, and you’re willing to research the fees that might apply to how you want to use the card. But if none of those apply to you, there may be better options out there for you.
About the author: Marcie Geffner is an award-winning freelance reporter, editor, writer and book critic. Her work has been featured online and in print by the Chicago Sun-Times, Fox Business Network Online, Los Angeles Times, The Washi… Read more.
