I was in my local AAA this week and things have changed. The card costs $4.95 one time to obtain (although that may change depending on your local AAA policy), reloads can be made with cash at participating AAA offices for free. The T&C state that reloads are now unlimited as long as you don’t make more than 3 reloads the first week or load more than $1,500 the first week although my local AAA limits reloads to 23. If you loaded it once a week that would be 22 cents per week for a cost (against the one time purchase fee). The cards are instantly available from AAA also which is markedly different from all other deals which give you a temp card and then mail out a permanent one with a different number on it at say Walmart.

No fees for purchases. No direct deposit and the minimum cash load is $100. There is a $1.50 ATM fee but since you are only putting on cash that you will use that shouldn’t be a big deal.

The card has serious buyer protection including added insurance against theft or fire, water damage etc up to $500 where the item is insured within 3 months of purchase -

Lost Luggage Reimbursement* – Get reimbursement up to $250 per trip, $1,000 per cardholder to replace your luggage and its contents if an airline, train, cruise or bus line loses your checked or carry-on luggage. Reimbursement is not contingent upon the purchase of travel with the Visa TravelMoney card.
Purchase Security* – Within the first 90 days of the date of purchase, Purchase Security will replace, repair, or reimburse you for eligible items of personal property purchased entirely with your registered Visa TravelMoney® card up to a maximum of $500 per claim, in the event of theft, damage due to fire, vandalism, accidentally discharged water, or certain weather conditions.

The card is generic as far as there being no name on it but when registered the card can be used for online purchases etc.

AAA membership is well worth it for the discounts and available services but for those with banking issues this is a great reason also.

BTW the recent lowering of reload fees by Walmart and Moneygram to $3 and the agreement between Moneygram and Visa to reload Visa prepaid cards will put a lot of pressure on Greendot to follow and lower their own fees to $3. Readylink is supposed to be available at any 7-Eleven store but it isn’t so this is a big boost for them. The Money Manager card will have readylink reloads later this year.

Other good cards with low fees are:

Infusion Mastercard no monthly fee, no signature fee free direct deposit, cash reloads, billpay

Cashpay from Bank of America, direct deposit only, free atm withdrawals once a week at BOA ATMs (for those that want access to more than the cashback at a supermarket the Cashpay and MoneyManager are the best cards and better than getting an out of area bank account at ‘People’s Cash Solutions’ or ‘TAB Bank’ both of which have ATM surcharges and have no ATM agreement with any ATM network making an ATM withdrawal very expensive).

https://prepaid.bankofamerica.com/CashPay/Pages/Home.aspx

Powercash from West Suburban Bank, very low fees, readylink reloadable

There is a movement among credit unions to begin rolling out their own prepaid cards that are either linked to a savings account or are stand alone accounts. For the most part these are originating from credit union co-ops and associations. CUMoney and Debitpass are 2 examples of these cards.

If you don’t have direct deposit Walmart’s deal where you can cash your check and reload your card is a good one but you have to load your whole check so if you need ATM access there are two charges $1.95 from Walmart and another from the ATM owner which can be as high as $3. Walmart also waives the $3 monthly fee when your monthly deposits total over $1,000 a month.

Upside Visa has no monthly fee and allows free reloads via ACH from a savings account.

Finally the new Moneygram Visa has reloads for $2.95 at any Moneygram location which may be more convenient than a crowded Walmart. There is a $2.95 monthly fee.