Using Prepaid Credit Cards to Manage a Tight Budget

Prepaid credit cards – those that don’t have a line of credit or credit limit established by a card company but are instead based on how much cash the cardholder keeps on deposit in the card account – are gaining in popularity faster than any other kind of credit card. That’s mostly because they can be easily gotten even by people who get turned down for other more traditional types of credit cards. Even with bad credit, a bankruptcy, a foreclosure, or little or no income and assets it is still possible to succeed at getting your own prepaid credit card, and it works anywhere that major cards like Visa and Mastercard are accepted. But what many people do not realize is that the prepaid credit card is also one of the best tools you can use to help you manage your budget and personal expenses.

To use a prepaid card as a budget tool, first create your budget. Figure out how much money you have to spend, what your main expenses are each month, and how many dollars you have to spend in each category such as gasoline, rent, groceries, and so forth. Then get a prepaid card and deposit your monthly budget amount into that account. You then can use the card for those expenses, and you’ll be forced to manage the card in such a way that it does not run out before the end of the month.

You can even have more than one card – like one for groceries and another for car expenses. You can even get a prepaid card that lets you make payments online for things like your mortgage payment or rent, and once all of your big ticket budget items are designated and tied to a card, all you have to do in order to keep within your predetermined budget is to not totally max out the card until the month is over.
Offshore Pro Group