How long do prepaid cards take to activate

Prepaid cards vary widely, but they tend to have these features in common:. Reload options: You can usually add money to a card in multiple ways, such as setting up direct deposits, loading cash at participating retailers and depositing checks at ATMs.

Some cards also let you make online transfers or mobile check deposits from a smartphone. Fees: You might have to pay for activating a card, making deposits and using out-of-network ATMs. Some cards charge a fee for every purchase and ATM transaction. Amount limits: Some cards restrict how much you can withdraw, reload or spend during a certain period, such as a day or month. Protections: Reloadable prepaid cards have the liability and fraud protections required of debit cards by federal law.

Some cards offer purchase protections, but it can be difficult to dispute unauthorized transactions or correct errors. One safeguard many cards have is federal deposit insurance, meaning your money is covered if an issuer becomes bankrupt. Expiration dates: Prepaid cards have expiration dates. If that happens to you, reach out to the prepaid company to see if it can be resolved. If not, you can submit a complaint on the CFPB website. Other features: Some prepaid cards offer check writing, online bill pay and multiple copies of a card for family members.

A rare few even offer rewards such as cash back on purchases, similar to rewards credit cards. Read more about the basics of debit cards. Recent horror stories: Several prepaid cards have been affected by technological outages that lasted days or weeks. The Walmart MoneyCard experienced an outage in Netspend settled with a federal regulator over claims that customers were blocked from accessing their accounts, providing refunds to those who were eligible.

If you want a checking account without monthly fees, consider our list of best free checking accounts. Your prepaid account provider will ask you for certain personal information as part of the registration process. After registration, the provider may send you a new permanent card with your name on it.

Activate the permanent card if required and get rid of the temporary card by cutting it up or shredding it. Searches are limited to 50 characters. Please do not share any personally identifiable information PII , including, but not limited to: your name, address, phone number, email address, Social Security number, account information, or any other information of a sensitive nature.

Get gift card activation tips below. When you buy a gift card at the store whether it is a retailer, restaurant, Visa or Mastercard gift card , you take the gift card to the cash register and ask the cashier to load money onto the card. The cashier takes the card, activates it and loads the dollar amount requested onto the card. Now the card is ready to use. If you buy the gift card online, however, the recipient may be asked to activate the card once it is received.

The card is valid and the balance purchased is on the card, but the card may not work until you go through the process of activating it. This is a security measure. To simplify things in my mind, I think of a gift card as a temporary bank account. When I open a checking account at the bank, for example, the bank gives me an account number and a debit card that allows me to spend the money in that account. Gift cards work similarly.

When I buy a gift card, the gift card issuer creates a temporary account to hold the funds deposited and I hold the plastic gift card or egift card in order to use those funds. Have the prepaid Visa card handy. You will need the numbers on the front and back of the card. You will hear a notification that your card has been activated once the process is complete. Randall Blackburn has worked for several Fortune companies as a technical writer over the past seven years.