www.iva.co.uk

Hi,
I am thinking of getting a cashplus prepaid credit card, main reason is for car hire in a few months time.

Has anyone got one of these, can you help me with a couple of questions please?

I have looked around this forum and it seems that the car hire option can only be activated after 3 or 4 months of use of the card...is this true?

How much is the monthly charge, how is this charge actually taken from you ?

Has anyone had any problems with car hire firms using one of these cards?

Thanks in advance

Hi Endsmeet,

Take a look at this comparison chart for cards:

http://www.iva.co.uk/prepaid-cards-comparison.asp

If you visit the individual websites, that should tell you what you can and can't do.

Thanks Kallis3,
I have had a look around a few websites and now I just wondered what a 'real person' thinks abut this particular card.....

I already have a paypal card which hasn't cost me a penny since the initial outlay but I want one that will be ok for car hire and the cash plus seems to be the only one...

Hi Endsmeet,

I have had a Cash Plus Mastercard now for a couple of years and found it works fine. The charge is £4.95 a month and they take it directly out of the money on the card so you need to make sure that you have at lest that on there when you activate it. You have a internet log on and can see your statement and transfer money from your current account to the card...takes up to 4-5days, top up at post office...takes over night except weekends, or a retail that displays the green 'e-pay' (I think it says), top ups take about 30mins to go through but but £2 charge...ok if you need to top up quickly. Hire cars - now I didn't reliase about hiring and I tried to hire a car. Plenty of money for the deposit and hire on there but it got refused....very red faced...came home phoned them up and they said that you have to request for it to be activated. Not sure if it is only after a set period of time or not...I had my card at least a year when this happened. Once I activated and went back it worked fine. I hired from Enterprise...to save embarrassment check the website of the hire companies though because some will not accept a pre paid cards not sure why though unless it is to do with assurring who you are......with prepaid cards anyone can get one without any sort of checks or evidence on who you are. Overall found the card very good. Mastercard is all over the world and I even took some money out the hole in the wall in the US earlier this year. Might be worth looking around though for other card deals...when I took mine out 2 years ago it was the only Mastercard I could find. The rest were Maestro which can have limitations on where you can use it.

Hope this helps.

Hi Busybee,
Thanks for the info, its exactly what I was looking for, someone with 'hands on' experience of the card

As I mentioned before I have a paypal card which has cost me nothing at all as they don't charge if loaded thru a paypal account and also nothing for transactions, I found this one great and being a visa as well Ive never had it declined, the only problem is the car hire thing.

I've looked around various forums and cashplus will activate the car hire option after 3-4 months of usage, loading it up and using it on a regular basis so instead of loading my paypal card, I will load the cashplus one instead and use it for petrol etc as I normally do.

Think I will apply for one, its the only one that gives you the carhire facility which I will need early next yr so 6 months of regular usage should be ok.

Thanks Again

I have a paypal card and find it great for the internet, but it's no good for car hire.

Have had the cashplus card for a couple of years, you don't have to pay the monthly £4.95 fee, if you only use it acouple of times a month there is an option of 99p per transaction, it works out cheaper. You can request the car hire option after a few months, they just check your card usage. You can also top up for free at cash converter shops, appears on your accout after 30mins.