I never understood prepaid credit cards .... your conventional credit card offers any and all the protection from being scammed or hacked any person will ever need. They are also easy to deal with when this happens and you are never out a penny.
A pre-paid, on the other hand is already loaded and I'm not sure how you could stop someone from using your already pre paid money (but maybe it works the same and you do get protection? I don't know). So even losing " a small amount limited to what's left on the card" is still more than ZERO versus a conventional card as you are not liable for purchases that were unauthorized (like scams, hacks, etc..)
Clearly there are some additional advantages to conventional cards like cash back, points, air miles, etc.. as well.
Some prepaid cards also add fees and surcharges on purchases. A fractional percentage most people don't realize they are paying (as "cash back and air miles rewards cards deduct these fractional charges from the vendor and pay you through these vendor fees - this is not something pre-paid cards do.
And if you have money to pre-load them, then I assume you have money not to carry a balance either ...... so I'm at a loss as to why this is a good option as you are not taking on debt and interest if you pay them down right away.
Also is you load a pre-paid with $2000, spend a hundred buck and need to cancel/refund/freeze the card due to some scam the $2000 is out of your pocket and I bet it's going to take some real work to get your money refunded (and time on the phone). A conventional card, in this case, gets reversed in minutes and none of your money is tied up in a painful tug of war on the phone with the credit card company. Minutes, and you are resolved.
I see no advantage to them whatsoever and only downside. Maybe I missed something?
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