BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard

[strippedaway]

I was wondering in anyone had any experience with this prepaid credit card: http://www4.bmo.com/creditcards/prepaid/0,4978,35649_78277469,00.html

 

I'm looking into getting it for these reasons:

 

• I most likely can't get a regular credit card right now
• It would make buying online a lot easier (I currently have to wait a week to upload money to PayPal via my bank account. Not good if there's a sale)
• It would allow me to finally buy things off of Amazon
• It offers Extended Warranty and Purchase Protection
• It appears to have the lowest fees when it comes to prepaid cards

I'm also hoping it will enable me to get Netflix. I read online that one person had success with it; saying that while Netflix recognizes this card as 'prepaid' and thus won't accept it directly, they have accepted it through PayPal. If anyone else has done this, I'd be curious to hear from you.

 

Not being regular credit card 'material' at the moment, I figure this card is not a bad alternative for the time being.

 

If anyone has any experience with it or input of whether or not this is a good card to get I'd love to hear about it.

[Burgerwars]

I was wondering in anyone had any experience with this prepaid credit card: http://www4.bmo.com/creditcards/prepaid/0,4978,35649_78277469,00.html

 

I'm looking into getting it for these reasons:

 

• I most likely can't get a regular credit card right now
• It would make buying online a lot easier (I currently have to wait a week to upload money to PayPal via my bank account. Not good if there's a sale)
• It would allow me to finally buy things off of Amazon
• It offers Extended Warranty and Purchase Protection
• It appears to have the lowest fees when it comes to prepaid cards

I'm also hoping it will enable me to get Netflix. I read online that one person had success with it; saying that while Netflix recognizes this card as 'prepaid' and thus won't accept it directly, they have accepted it through PayPal. If anyone else has done this, I'd be curious to hear from you.

 

Not being regular credit card 'material' at the moment, I figure this card is not a bad alternative for the time being.

 

If anyone has any experience with it or input of whether or not this is a good card to get I'd love to hear about it.

 

This Canadian Credit Forum is awfully quiet. But to answer your question, what you're looking at isn't a credit card but a prepaid debit card. If it's like similar products in the U.S., it won't do anything to help build a credit record or banking relationship. I think you would be better off inquiring at whatever Canadian bank you have an account with (I'm assuming it's Bank of Montreal) and see if you can get a debit card (Visa or MasterCard) linked to your checking account. I'm unsure of the reason why you think a regular credit card is out of reach, but I'm guessing it's previous credit problems. Hopefully if you can maintain a good checking/debit relationship with your bank and can start cleaning up previous credit issues, a regular bank credit card can be in your future. Maybe a deposit secured credit card. Good luck.

 

Also, PayPal (that you mentioned) has a free debit card linked to your PayPal account. Unfornately, in reading PayPal's site, it looks to be no longer available in Canada.

Edited September 4, 2011 by Burgerwars

[strippedaway]

This Canadian Credit Forum is awfully quiet. But to answer your question, what you're looking at isn't a credit card but a prepaid debit card. If it's like similar products in the U.S., it won't do anything to help build a credit record or banking relationship. I think you would be better off inquiring at whatever Canadian bank you have an account with (I'm assuming it's Bank of Montreal) and see if you can get a debit card (Visa or MasterCard) linked to your checking account. I'm unsure of the reason why you think a regular credit card is out of reach, but I'm guessing it's previous credit problems. Hopefully if you can maintain a good checking/debit relationship with your bank and can start cleaning up previous credit issues, a regular bank credit card can be in your future. Maybe a deposit secured credit card. Good luck.

 

Also, PayPal (that you mentioned) has a free debit card linked to your PayPal account. Unfortunately, in reading PayPal's site, it looks to be no longer available in Canada.

 

Thanks for replying.

 

You're right, it's a purchase card. I've always seen it referred to as a prepaid credit card so that's how I've come to call it. I do realize that I place my own money on to it and that it does not effect my credit rating.

 

At the moment I'm unemployed and looking for a job (I was in school and various job workshops up until recently), so that's the reason I'm thinking I'd be unable to obtain a credit card at the moment. I have no debt or anything like that so far. As for getting a debit card with the MasterCard or Visa logo, my bank isn't actually BMO (they just happened to have the best prepaid card) and does not offer such a debit card. Although they do offer a credit card.

 

And thanks for the luck! Hopefully the card is a good substitute until I can get a real credit card.

[Burgerwars]

Thanks.

 

I don't live in Canada, but have maintained a checking account with RBC Royal Bank for years (actually over two decades). I also will be in Montreal this week.

 

One other suggestion: If BMO doesn't have a Visa/MasterCard debit card, try inquring with another bank (RBC, Scotiabank, CIBC, etc.). I feel it's to one's advantage to have a banking relationship with more than one bank for this very reason. One bank may not be able to help you with all you may need in life, so it's best to have accounts with a couple others. Just don't go hog wild opening accounts with every bank in town all at once. It's a red flag (Chexsystems in the U.S.). But opening up two accounts in a period of 90 days should be OK.