Green dot card

Banking

Beginner’s guide to Green dot card

Green dot card has been a major succor to users who are looking to facilitate payments with ease at every given time, this range from making purchases and completing payments, in this case transactions are carried out with any of the available cards.

Beside completing payment, the Green dot card can be used for cash withdrawal as well as any card that provides this service, though with functionalities as structured by the issuer.

In view of the foregoing, if you are looking to pick a card, facilitate your payments and withdrawals, however, trapped in the web of not having a credit good score, the green dot card may just be a perfect suit for you.

What is Green dot card?

The Green dot card is a reloadable prepaid card, insured by the FDIC. The card can be used for

  • Payments
  • Purchases and
  • Cash withdrawal.

The card is a product of Green dot, a financial technology and registered bank holding company which caters for users who can’t or wouldn’t want to purchase items on credit.

Preferred users are usually; individuals who have fair to poor credit scores.

The cards are sold at retailers outlet such as CVS, Rite-Aid and Walmart.

Who is suitable for this card?

  • If you are a spender who reload at least $1,000 in a months, this should be a good fit for you.
  • It’s designed for customers who do not use paper checks
  • If you detest credit check but wants access to banking features, here’s a deal breaker for you.

What you may like about Green dot cards

  • Mobile and direct deposits are free
  • Visa and MasterCard by Green dot are widely accepted by merchants
  • Bill payments via Mobile and online are free

Possible challenges with Green dot cards

  • Cash withdrawal via a bank teller costs $3
  • Paper checks would cost $5.95 per dozen
  • Except you have a deposit of at least $1,000 a month, a steep monthly fee of $7.95 applies
  • In addition to amount charged by an ATM owner, you are bound to pay extra $3 as ATM fee
  • To load your card at retailers point costs about $5.95

How the green dot card works

The green dot operates within debit cards and Visa cards. Each of the debit card works just like the debit card linked to your savings, current or checking accounts.

In this case, the card would have to be loaded to access funds in view of carrying out your transactions with them.

The sole idea is, these cards have to be prefunded before they could be used to offset payments for goods and services or effect cash withdrawal.

You would need to visit any of the outlets mentioned above to purchase a card, usually comes at a fee, the amount depends on the merchant store.

On completion of purchase the company would have to send you a personalized card via email.

Thereafter, you would have to activate your card before it could be used at any approved store.

The Visa Green dot card is free when purchased online, however, costs $1.95 or less when acquired in a store. There’s no credit check requirement.

You can earn as high as 5 percent cash back with a cap out of $100 annually on cash back.

It attracts a monthly fee of $7.95, however, waved if the card is being loaded with $1,000 or more in a month.

The Green dot debit cards

A debit card allows you to complete payment/settlement for goods and services as well as withdraw cash from a service point.

A debit card is designed to transmit cash from pre-loaded account, by this standard your account should have been funded with cash to enable this process.

For a better idea into this, let’s look into the concept of various debit cards.

Green dot Prepaid debit card, debit card and the credit card

Prepaid cardDebit cardCredit card
The prepaid card allows you to pay ahead. You will need to load money through cash, checks, direct deposit or bank account before paying for transactionsThis is a “Pay now” scenario where money is debited from your savings/checking account when paying for purchases, withdrawing money from an ATM or a POS locationThe credit card arrangement is a borrow now and pay later scenario. You borrow money from a bank when you use the card and pay back later.

Types of Green dot debit card

There are basically four green dot debit cards that could service your payments purpose. Each is designed with unique features to meet individual’s lifestyle and class.

1. The Visa debit card

If you need a debit card to help keep track of your spending, the visa debit card should be the go-get for you. You derive extra benefit of a monthly charge waved provided you have above $500 in the account.

This card can be used everywhere Visa is accepted, Apple, Google as well as Samsung. It has a feature that enables you to set money aside to meet your future spending.

2. Pay as you go Visa debit card

This card enables you to transfer funds and add cash for free at participating retailers, as well as get paid early with ASAP Direct Deposit and complete purchases anywhere Visa is accepted.

There’s no strict monthly maintenance fee, you are charged $1.5 per use instead.

3. Cash back Visa debit card

If you prefer cash back on purchase, the cash back Visa card will allow you earn 2% cash back on select purchases.

Cash deposits made at participating retailers point are free as well as in-network ATM withdrawals.

For ASAP Direct Deposit, you’ll have access to your paycheck or government benefit check early.

$9.95 monthly charge applies for this card.

4. The 5% cash back Visa debit card

This card has the highest cash back advantage on every purchase being made usually as high as 5%. With a yearly cash back reward cap out at $100.

Each time you complete a purchase using this card, a $9.95 monthly fee apply as well as $1.95 or less fee each time a purchase is completed.

How to activate your card

The card will usually arrive inactive, this is a security feature to ensure it does not get tampered with by unauthorized user. There could be incidence of theft or fraud, in this case you are not under any form risk yet should your card get lost or handled by unauthorized persons.

On arrival of your card, you can get it activated in two ways (either put a call across to Green dot or head over to the Green dot home page). It takes a few seconds to get your card activated.

  • Visit the Green dot home page
  • Click on register card
  • You will be redirected to a secured page where you can enter the green dot card’s PAN (Primary Account Number) usually 16-digit, the Card Verification Value (CVV), 3-digit security feature. Enter the month and year of the card expiration as seen on the card, click on continue
  • Follow the prompts to enter your name, address, and date of birth.

Having done this your card gets activated, however, you are required to fund your card before you can use it to consummate transactions.

How to fund my Green dot card

Kindly be informed that despite getting your card activated, it cannot be used to consummate transactions until it’s being funded.

You can get your Visa card funded in different ways,

Visit any Green dot’s financial centers or retail stores to use cash.

You can sign up for a direct deposit, it comes at no cost to you and your paycheck would be transferred to your card.

You may choose to have your tax refund deposited to your Visa card.

Additionally, you can get your card funded via mobile device, with this you can deposit a check or complete a transfer from one of your accounts.

On successful funding, you can start using your card for transactions as it suits your needs and lifestyle real time, 24/7.

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