What are money cards?

Money cards are prepaid cards that people use to carry out transactions needing a Visa or Mastercard logo when they haven't been able to qualify for a bank account or a credit card. The main drawback of some of these cards is the fee structure.

Prepaid cards do not have the same sort of regulations in place as credit cards and bank-linked debit cards under the CARD Act, as of 2015. The American Express Bluebird Prepaid Card offers all of the traditional American Express benefits with no fees, but the Vision Preferred prepaid card comes with a $9.95 activation fee and charges $1 for signature and PIN transactions as well as a $2.50 ATM fee.