www.iva.co.uk

I am weighng u wehther to get one of these, you have to pay £4.00 a month to have it supscription fee but on the other hand ti wouldbe usefull as an alternative to a debit card.

Any toughts? Experineces?

hi Dominic

I applied for the cashplus mastercard which costs around 16 pounds initially but top ups are free, I also have the pre pay extreme maestro card which costs nine pound initially and top ups cost 70p.

I found that i can shop online which is cheaper.

I have one for bills and one for food petrol etc

I do not have to carry cash around and remember to take enough cash out to cover everything such as petrol etc.

On the other side you have to remember to top up and physically go and do this at the post office. It can take a day for the credit to show on the card, if you top up on friday then it does not show until monday. You can use a debit card to top up if you have one, I dont. Debits come off immediately so you know where you are.

I find them really useful and it feels more normal to me to use a card instead of cash.

You can have wages/benefits paid directly on the the pre pay cash plus mastercard. I have found that the extreme cred maestro card will not always accept refunds.



LILY

Thanks Lilli what worries me is the 4.00 pounds per month side of it.

I have just been on to the site and read the terms and conditions it costs £4.95 per month for mastercard, top ups are free. Your Uk withdrawals ATM cash is £3 per go which is steep. However it works out at £1.14 per week if you dont withdraw cash. If you already have a Debit card theres no need, if you buy online the basic debit cards like solo are not accepted and you can save money, the card might pay for itself. Living on a budget is tough so these things must be considered. As i said I only have a cash account so I needed mine.

LILY

I have two Cashplus cards and have found them an absolute Godsend ... well worth the monthly charges for the convenience of having them. Whilst it is really refreshing to go back to using cash as you can see where your money is going (!)these are invaluable for paying for shopping, petrol etc. which would otherwise mean finding a cashpoint first and then likely drawing out more than you need. Of course they are also invaluable for online purchases.

Debbie

so on a cost benefit analysis it proves to be useful?

I would say absolutely ... go for it!

ok thanks for the advice.

They also offer another system apart from the £4.95 per month. If you only use the card for less than 5 transactions then you can opt for the £1.00 per transaction fee. You will have to call them and request that option.

Still cheaper than paying interest on a credit card and at the end of the day, the company have to make a living for providing a service.