⌛ Pre-paid Visa/Mastercard

Hi,
I will be going home (Oklahoma, USA) next month and don't have a credit card for my travels, only my husband does. Anyway, I was thinking of getting a prepaid VISA/MASTERCARD. I see I can get the pre-paid Mastercard at BDO or BPI, is there anywhere I can get a pre-paid VISA? Not that it matters much, I just always used VISA credit cards in the past. Does anyone have any experience, good or bad with using these prepaid cards? I have never used them, so not sure there are limitations, etc.....

We will be in Dumaguete Feb. 11-17th...watch for us (white woman, filipino husband, 11 year old daughter, and we usually are toting an oxygen tank in a backpack)!!!! Can't wait to visit again!!

Thanks!!
Marie

 

i dunno if i phils the prepaid credit card are the same as in italy where they come without your name on it. they are generic and your name is associated to the card by the contract and than communicated to visa or mastercard that keep the data. for me i have few of them that i use for internet payment and holiday. but i had quite some trouble paying the hotel in Manila like they never saw something like that.
try to verify how are the card they issue in phils and if they are commonly used where you are going to travel.
hope that helps

 

How well prepaid cards work is probably a crapshoot. I believe I read that the BPI prepaid here only works in the Philippines. I just got a prepaid from Smart (get one at their downtown location.) It was free and I didn't have to get a local bank account. I'm not sure how easy they are to load from abroad without a BDO account though. I think there will eventually be places on the internet to reload. I'm not sure Visa or Mastercard makes a difference as they aren't like a typical Visa or Mastercard card anyways. Mine is a MC but it's called a MC electronic or something like that. Some places on the net accept it, others don't. FWIW, my card does have my name on it.

 

If you have a PayPal account you can get a debit card through that (for free). Just load up your PayPal accound before you leave; you can also transfer online from your bank to your PayPal account. I believe this is a MasterCard, but I'm not 100% sure.

If you don't have a PayPal account, it's very easy to do right online. the card is accepted worldwide (again, according to the info on PayPal's site). I am signing up for one today.

Safe travels!

 

That's what I use. Don't you need to have a business account for that? I do, which is fine, but I believe Paypal charges more fees for payments. Also, I'm not sure you can use an address in the Philippines to get the business account. Great option though, they only charge $1 at the ATM and I have never had a problem with my card here. There are ATM's here which don't accept but there are enough that do that I don't have a problem.