Prepaid Card Consumer Protection In CanadaMost credit card transactions are made in the United States, The United Kingdom, and Canada. There are a lot of advantages to using a prepaid debit card for Canada - United States travel; they are very handy since the exchange rate is handled automatically. Some cards have no monthly fee, which makes them perfect for occasional use. Prepaid cards are much safer to use for internet and phone transactions, as they are not connected to the card holder's bank account or financial identity. Prepaid cards have also become a very popular gift option, especially for graduates. For a person who travels for business, it is very convenient to use these prepaid cards, since they can be used in Canada and the United States as well as in the United Kingdom for all types of purchases at any merchant that accepts Visa cards and Master Cards. Increasingly, Providian and Discover card are offering prepaid options to their customers as well. A prepaid card is far more secure than cash, so these cards offer the peace of mind of a credit card with none of the associated expense. Most can be used at AUtomatic Teller Machines for a modest fee. As a consumer service, the Government of Canada maintains a free access database that will show the fees, features, interest rates and reward programs of nearly two hundred credit cards available to citizens of Canada. The government updates this valuable database quarterly with information supplied by the issuing companies. Additionally, the website of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) publishes this information in the database every quarter online. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada database report is published in two formats. The Adobe PDF comparison tables show a break down the information according to type of credit card. This convenient format allows the reader to compare, for example, all the prepaid cards or all the student credit cards in the database. An important area to examine closely is the monthly or annual fee structure. There is a great variance in these fees, so the fee structure that works best for one user might not be best for another. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada database also meshes with an interactive tool on the FCAC web site. This handy online tool uses interview-type questions to construct a profile of credit card spending habits, needs and restrictions. The tool then eliminates choices that do not match the need based on the profile, which is a great help in choosing the right card. The user is then shown a short list of cards that are regarded as meeting the consumer's needs. Further, the user has the ability to carry out detailed comparisons of the various fees, rewards, interest rates, features, and so on that are associated with each card. |