CARD.com Prepaid Card – It’s Not Just About the Card Art
CARD.com is best known for its card art. With thousands of designs, you can get a prepaid card for nearly every pop culture icon, sports hero, and social cause. But CARD.com doesn’t just bring the card art. For prepaid card users using direct deposit, CARD.com offers a low fee card with some great features.
CARD.com Visa Prepaid Card
Pros
- Waivable monthly fee
- Free ATM withdrawals
- Fun card art
Cons
- High monthly fee if not using direct deposit
CARD.com Overview
Like Family Guy? CARD.com has a card for that. Prefer Sci-Fi? CARD.com has you covered. Or maybe you’re dedicated to a social cause? CARD.com has a prepaid card to show your support. Whatever your interest, CARD.com likely has a card design that matches it.
With 17 categories of card art, CARD.com looks to add a little personality to its prepaid card. The categories cover everything from TV and classic movies to sports to art–even food.
But it’s not all about the look.
CARD.com has a compelling offering for prepaid card users that use direct deposit. With direct deposits totalling $1,000 or more in a month, CARD.com waives its monthly fee of $9.95. And it offers free in-network ATM transactions.
For those that don’t use direct deposit, on the other hand, the monthly fee might be too steep a price for the card art.
CARD.com Visa® Prepaid Card not what you are looking for? Check out other options in our Best Prepaid Debit Cards list.
A Sample of CARD.com Designs
The available CARD.com designs are too numerous to cover, but I had to highlight a few.
Trekkers or Trekkies?
No matter the term you prefer, you’ll like the Star Trek prepaid card design. There are at least a dozen cards featuring the original version of the sci-fi series. I have to say, I was a little jarred when we lost Mr. Spock.
Unicorns and Rainbows
If you’re a fan of Lisa Frank’s designs, CARD.com offers over 32 designs.
Don’t know who Lisa Frank is? Neither did I. But I did go down the internet rabbit hole once I looked it up. The story of this hugely popular kids art company and its founder is fascinating.
But, if unicorns aren’t your thing…
Goth
CARD.com offers dozens of designs in the Goth and Alternative category.
**shudder**
The Players
If you stuck with him through deflategate, then you might choose one of the 10 Tom Brady cards.
And if you didn’t….
Maybe stick with this one.
Features of the CARD.com Prepaid Card
In addition to the card art, the Card.com card offers a number of features.
The card includes direct deposit and text alerts. And as a Visa branded card, it can be used for purchases wherever Visa debit cards are accepted.
In addition, the card offers the following:
- Mobile App. CARD.com offers a mobile app for both Apple and Android devices. The mobile app can be used to see recent transactions and to deposit checks to your card.
- Card to Card Transfers. CARD.com offers free transfers to any other CARD.com account.
- Family/Multiple Card Plans. You can get up to 3 cards for the regular $9.95, but if you have multiple accounts, the monthly fee is not waivable.
- Free ATM transactions. CARD.com cards offer free cash withdrawals and other ATM transactions at MoneyPass ATMs. MoneyPass has over 30,000 locations, so there’s almost certainly one close by.
CARD.com Fees
The CARD.com monthly fee is higher than average at $9.95. But, if you use direct deposit to load at least $1,000 during the month, CARD.com waives the fee altogether for single card users.
CARD.com also offers multiple-card plans. The fees are the same except the monthly fee isn’t waivable with direct deposit if you have more than one card.
There is no activation fee for the card and no transaction fees for single or multiple card holders.
ATM transactions are free when you use MoneyPass ATMs. Out-of-network ATM withdrawals cost $2.95 plus any charge assessed by the ATM owner.
Limits for the CARD.com Card
The limits for the CARD.com card are, for the most part, middle of the pack or higher among all prepaid cards. The card balance limit is $15,000 and the daily spending limit is $5,000.
However, the daily cash load limit is lower than other cards– $1,500 when using Green Dot’s MoneyPak or Reload @ the Register. The daily ATM withdrawal limit of $500.
How to Reload a CARD.com Card
You have a number of options to reload the CARD.com card:
- Direct Deposit. It is free to use direct deposit with CARD.com. You can set up paychecks and government benefits to be loaded onto the card via direct deposit, and if total direct deposit hits $1,000, you’re monthly fee is waived.
- Online Transfers. You can transfer money online from a PayPal or bank account for free.
- Mobile Check Deposit. With the mobile app, you can deposit checks directly to your CARD.com card with no fee. It will take about 10 days for the funds to clear. Quicker options are available for a fee charged by the third-party processor.
- Cash. You can load cash to the card using Green Dot’s MoneyPak or Reload @ the Register. You can also use WU Reload+ (Western Union’s reload service). The only fees for cash reloads, are those charged by the cash reload networks. Green Dot’s services generally cost $4.95 – 5.95. Western Union’s runs $2.95 – 4.95.
Getting a CARD.com Card
You can only get the CARD.com card online. There is no purchase or activation fee to get one.
Like other prepaid cards, there is no credit requirement or ChexSystems check. It just requires picking a card design and providing basic identifying information, including address and social security number.
Final Thoughts
CARD.com’s designs add a little fun to using plastic. And why not? For direct deposit users, CARD.com cards can be nearly free to use with its waivable monthly fee and free ATM network.
If you don’t plan to use direct deposit and especially if you load your card mainly with cash, the monthly fee will make the card art considerably less fun. You’ll likely find some better prepaid cards.
Best For: Prepaid card users with direct deposit; those who want custom designs
Not So Good For: Prepaid card users without direct deposit or those loading mainly cash