My husband and I live in a cash-only household. We threw out our credit cards when we decided to get debt-free. We canceled our checking account when we realized how irresponsible we were being with our finances. Since this decision occurred several months ago, we live on cash only. If we don't have the cash, we don't buy it. It's a simple and easy plan for us. We save tons of money this way. We don't find ourselves buying things we don't need. We can actually pay our bills on time each month. It's a miracle.
On occasion there are instances where we need a credit card. You can't rent a car, reserve a motel room, or purchase anything online without one. This can create a challenge for a cash only, checking account banned household. There are alternatives though. Prepaid debit cards can offer many options for those who don't want a traditional credit card but need something do online bill pay, online ordering, or to make reservations with.
Advantages:
These cards are great because unlike regular credit cards you actually have to have the money before you can make a purchase. You deposit the money on the card and then use it. Once the money is gone you can't make any more purchases. There are no over the limit fees. There is no chance of a returned check fee. They have the Visa and MasterCard logo so they are accepted anywhere that takes these major credit cards. Most allow you to directly deposit your check onto them saving trips to the bank to cash your check.
Disadvantages:
With every good thing there are undoubtedly bad aspects and Prepaid Debit Cards are no different. Disadvantages to these cards include load fees for each time you add money to your card if you use one of the companies approved load stations. Monthly fees that can add up over the course of a year. Monthly fees can sometimes be avoided by having funds directly deposited from your employer onto the card. They sometimes also have a higher fee for ATM withdrawals and some even have a per use fee for every time you use the card. You have to be very careful when applying for these cards to check out all the fine print.
How We Use These Cards In Our Home
Use 1: Online bill payment - I use them to make payments online for the electric bill, internet bill, phone bill, and several other monthly expenses. You can either add money at a pay load station or have funds deposited from your employer.
Use 2: Rent - My husband has one card that is devoted to just our rent. Each time he is paid half of our monthly rent is directly deposited onto the card. At the end of the month we know that if we can pay nothing else at least our rent will be paid. We just go to the ATM, withdrawal the funds, and get a money order for the landlord. We keep the card in a place that is difficult for us to get to so that we don't use the designated rent money for something else.
Use 3: PayPal - A lot of people are leery about giving PayPal access to their checking account. People use PayPal for more than just eBay these days as there are many retailers who accept this form of payment. Also anyone who writes for sites like Associated Content or Helium gets their paychecks through PayPal. Using the direct deposit form that comes with the prepaid debit cards. PayPal will accept this like it is a banking account. When you want to access the money for other things you can have PayPal transfer the money over to your card and then you can withdraw it from the ATM.
For a list of available Prepaid Debit cards visit https://www.neonbeginner.com/2018/04/20/what-is-nex-platform-neon-exchange/ where you can view from a wide selection of these cards.