You might know the person you are giving the gift to quite well A gift credit card therefore represents an ideal solution all round.
Gift credit cards are a tremendously versatile option for giving or donating money as a gift anywhere in the world,
for business incentive purposes or even for giving students or your teenage children the money they need for making their own purchases.
Sending cash by post is extremely risky, and for this reason, many people choose instead to insert vouchers in cards to send people for special occasions such as birthdays, weddings, anniversaries or Christmas. However, although vouchers represent a certain degree of security, they are still not entirely safe because they are anonymous and a finder can easily use them. Not only that, but they are fairly limited in terms of outlets that accept them in payment for goods.
You might know the person you are giving the gift to quite well, but it can still be a challenge trying to decide what kind of voucher to use. Buying a voucher for a retail store or group of stores that the person no longer frequents is largely a waste of money.
A gift credit card therefore represents an ideal solution all round. Posting such a card presents very little risk as far as losing the money is concerned, since this is included on the account, not the card itself. Only the person for whom it is intended will be able to use the card and spend the money. Additionally there is the advantage that a gift card can be used in almost any shop or store. Most gift credit cards are under either the Visa or MasterCard name, and wherever you see these names you will be able to use the card. This means that the recipient will be able to use the card in almost any store in the world.
The flexibility and versatility represents a real advantage, both offline and online. With an increasing number of people buying goods and services online, a gift credit card that has been preloaded with funds means that they will be able to use the card to purchase items online. They can therefore make best use of internet discounts and also have a much wider choice of stores from which to choose.
The amount that can be preloaded varies, but is often anything from $25 to $500. You pay for the card itself to begin with, usually just a few dollars, and then a loading fee. These two fees together may total about $10, and then, in most cases, the funds are available to spend without any further fees attached.
Some gift credit cards can only be loaded once, so that after the funds have been used the card is no longer valid. However there are other pre paid credit card services which can be reloaded, so that once the funds have been used, more funds can be added at a later date, allowing the card to be used indefinitely as a pre-pay credit card.
Some businesses and organisations have used these gift cards as incentives. Rather than giving vouchers which may or may not be suitable for the recipient to make use of, a credit card that has been preloaded with funds represents a very real incentive. Knowing that the funds can be used in any way you like, at virtually any store, means that anyone would be pleased to receive this, without any risk of it being unsuitable.
Those credit cards which can be reloaded also represent very versatile solutions. For example, if your child is going away to college you may decide that giving them a preloaded credit card is a perfect way of giving them the finance they need for college, without simply providing them with a pile of cash that can be spent in ways that may not be suitable, or which represents a security risk. You can easily put certain spending limits on the card, prevent it from being used for cash withdrawal, and even put age limits on the card so that if the goods or services are not suitable for minors, the card can't be used.
Most pre-pay cards have online banking services so that you can go online, make a payment on to the card, and even check the current balance and recent transactions. This is a great way to give your children their pocket money as you can provide them with money, but still have a degree of control over how and where it is spent.
Because so many teenagers and students use the internet for making their purchases, giving a pre paid gift credit card is a much more useful gift of money than cash or vouchers. It's also worth remembering that although they are called gift credit cards, there is no actual credit available, since the funds have already been deposited. Once the funds have been spent, the card can no longer be used until it is topped up. With no risk of debt, tremendous versatility and a good degree of control, gift credit cards represent an ideal solution that can be accepted and used by almost anyone.
