New Paypal Prepaid Visa Top Up Card
Update September 19th. I have been having some problems with the service received from Paypal, please see my comments for details.
ORIGINAL TEXT
In August 2008 Paypal released a brand new prepaid credit card which is available to both Paypal and non Paypal customers in the UK at the time of writing. It's called the Paypal Top Up Card and is issued by The Royal Bank Of Scotland who have partnered up with Paypal. It costs a one off fee of £4.95 which can be paid for using Paypal or other means. Because it's a prepaid card there is no credit check, Paypal only confirm your identity and this is normally instant.
You can use the card virtually anywhere that accepts VISA, on-line and off-line. You can also use it abroad and it's much safer than cash. If required, cash withdrawals are available too, costing £2 in the UK or £3 abroad. You can't go over drawn as you can only spend what you decide to load on the card beforehand.
You can top up the card directly from a Paypal account, anything from £5 to £1000 and this is totally free. In my case Paypal is setup to automatically draws funds directly from my bank account when there isn't a sufficient balance to cover a transaction, this is very convenient. You can also top up using cash at any Pay Point or Post Office, but it costs £1, this is avoidable unless you don't have a bank account.
The card is very competetive when compared to other prepaid credit cards on the market. It is very easy and convenient for most people. All account management can be done easily and securely on-line.
For more information and to apply, please click here.
(Information is correct as of the 5th August 2008)
Disclaimer
Although PJCNET endeviours to be accurate as possible, we take no responsibility for any incorrect information supplied.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 4:10 am and is filed under Consumer Watch, Money Making & Saving, News & General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:47 am
It’s a little disappointing that it takes 1 day for any top-up to actually reach your account instead of being instant, but I suppose this isn’t too bad, but they should make this clear up front. It is in the Terms and Conditions, but most people don’t read everything here.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:53 am
I paid £15 and have got £10.05 left on my account. For some reason I only have £9.05 available to actually spend. I suspect one has to leave £1 in the account. This is very naughty as there’s nothing in the Terms and Conditions about this or anywhere else. The card has effectively cost me £5.95 as I’ll never actually get the £1 back.
I know it’s only £1, but these will all add up to a large amount of money for Paypal which they haven’t advertised. I have written to Paypal to complain out of principle and will update with the outcome - maybe I will get the £1 back…..
August 24th, 2008 at 5:43 am
After sending out a 2nd Email to customer services when they didn’t respond within 48 hours as they clearly specified, Paypal said that it’s FREE to top up on-line using Paypal, but their system is taking the £1 wrongfully. It sounds like everyone is getting charged this £1 every time they top-up on-line.
This is all very well, but because of this, one could be in a very embarrassing situation in a shop or restaurant when the card bounces because of wrongfully being up to £1 over. This just isn’t good enough. They say I’ll be refunded, but so far I haven’t been. It’s a very bad start for the Paypal Top Up Card, I only hope they resolve the issue quickly and refund everyone affected as apart from this it’s a good card at a reasonable price.
Incidentally, top-up funds always take 1 day to clear. This isn’t too bad, but my Prime Prepaid card tops up instantly at Pay Point outlets. Unfortunately the Prime Card fees are higher and you can’t top-up on-line, so you can’t have everything.
August 27th, 2008 at 2:46 am
The £1 charge that shouldn’t have been taken when topping up on-line has now been refunded. All good.
September 19th, 2008 at 11:48 am
WARNING! DELAYS TOPPING UP AGAINST PROMISES!!!!!!
Topped up during the early hours on the 18th September 2008 using Paypal.
It’s now 12.45pm the following business day and the funds AREN’T IN MY ACCOUNT despite it promising payment the next business day in the Terms & Conditions.
After lots of attempts to get through to customer services with the phone going dead when in queue, Paypal say that they are having problems paying next day and that they are going to change their Terms & Conditions. A booking for my Birthday is now in jeopardy and it is causing me embarrassment if my payment now bounces. Complained and apparently it MIGHT go in at 1.30pm today now. Well MIGHT just isn’t good enough when it’s MY MONEY, NOT PAYPAL’S that they are preventing me from access.
September 19th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Causing me extreme embarrassment with a payment I have tried to make that HAS BOUNCED because of Paypal’s clearing problem. Waiting until 1.30pm, it’s turned 1pm and MY MONEY still isn’t available! It says nothing about 1.30pm on the Terms & Conditions and it’s been now 36 Hours since I topped up which is one and a half business days. This is out of line and it’s not on that they say they are going to change their Terms & Conditions as they haven’t informed anyone or changed them to date as BY LAW!
September 19th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
FUNDS CLEARED - A relief. PS: Blog was updating time 1 hour earlier than UK British Summer Time and I’ve just corrected this.