We notice you are visiting from a U.S. Internet provider. 
16/09/2010 -
Prepaid cards may be growing in popularity among shoppers, but next time users go to swipe at a wireless debit machine, they may want to think twice.A new study by Consumers Union has found that many of the fees traditional credit cardholders dislike do not disappear with prepaid cards. The research looked at 19 different cards and revealed that, in fact, all cards charge at least some type of fee, including activation, monthly, withdrawal, inactivity and overdraft fees, as well as fees for checking balances at ATMs and receiving paper statements.
Consumers Union found that 12 of the 19 cards require activation fees between $3 and $39.95, while 16 charge monthly fees ranging from $2.95 to $5.95. All 19 cards charge fees for every time a consumer uses an ATM in the U.S. These fees were found to be anywhere between 99 cents to $2.50.
Additionally, the group warned consumers that these cards may not come with the same protections as traditional credit cards when lost, stolen or used fraudulently.
Use is expected to continue its upward trend. In 2009, $124.6 billion was loaded onto prepaid cards - an increase of 61 percent from 2008 - and for only open-loop cards is expected to rise to $308 billion by 2012, according to a report by Mercator Advisory Group.
