The Application of Prepaid Cash Card for Consumers

Prepaid cash card is considered a convenient substitute to conventional credit cards for secure commercial transactions between users and merchants. Rather than having to deal with the tedious and time-consuming process of writing and approving checks, prepaid cash cards have revolutionized the retail industry, making it more safe and efficient. It is virtually the same as using cash, just that it is a convenient way to spend money without having to carry large amount of cash all the time. It is also a method for making purchase transactions over the World Wide Web without personally identifying information, such as telephone number, social security number, date of birth, annual income and others that are associated with traditional credit cards. Prepaid cash cards are accepted generally at places of businesses. If you have a Visa prepaid cash card, it will be accepted at any places where regular Visa credit cards can be used. Prepaid cash card can be purchased from any credit card companies. A consumer send a check for the amount of money he would like to place on the card and a card worth that amount will be sent to him.

Prepaid cash cards are linked to a consumer’s checking account, and when they are used, the amount spent is automatically deducted from the bank balance. Prepaid cash cards can also be linked to actual credit cards, allowing a consumer to spend more than what he have in his account. The cards can be used to make purchases online or to rent cars or make airplane reservations and are excellent for people who have low credit ratings and those whose credit cards cannot be approved.


How prepaid cash card works on Internet
A prepaid card is purchased having a unique identification code, and a predetermined cash balance. An obstruction, such as a peel-away strip, covering the identification code is removed after purchasing the card.

An account is activated or created by providing the identification code to a card service system. Typically, only the identification code is provided to the card service system in order to protect the purchaser of the card from uninvited sales calls, junk mail, theft of personal identity, etc. The activating step may comprise calling the card service system by telephone and providing the identification code, such as by inputting the identification code via keystrokes of a keypad of the telephone when prompted by an automated system, or providing the identification code by voice when the automated system has voice recognition software. Alternatively, the card holder may enter the identification code into a designated field of a cards service web-site to activate or create an associated account.

In order to purchase goods or services, the card holder selects one or more goods or services offered by a seller through its web-site. The identification code of the card is provided to the seller, typically by entering the identification code into a designated field of the web-site. The seller then transmits the identification code to the card service system for verification. The card service system determines if the identification code is associated with the valid and active account, and if there is sufficient cash balance in the account to purchase the selected goods or services. This is done by searching a database of activated accounts.

An approval code is transmitted to the seller if the identification is valid and a sufficient cash balance is available in the associated account to purchase the selected goods or services. The seller is credited the value of the purchase price of the selected goods or services, and the purchase price of the selected goods or services are debited from the cash balance of the account. If it is determined that the identification code is invalid, or there is insufficient cash balance in the associated account to purchase the selected goods or services, a denial code is transmitted to the seller.

The card holder can determine current card account cash balance by contacting the card service system, such as by telephone or World Wide Web connection. It is contemplated that the cash balance from one card account can be transferred to another card account when contacting the card service system so that meaningless low cash balances do not remain in an account.