Do Not Use Vanilla Prepaid Credit Cards
I went through a time of using Prepaid Visa/Mastercard cards for whenever I needed to buy something online (that didn't have a paypal option) or any other thing that needed a credit card for purchase as I don't have a regular credit card. My card of choice was the Vanilla variety as it's easy to find at many different retailers. They come in $20, $25, $35, $75, $100, $125, etc.
During this period of time, I have had 1 card not work after activation. This card was a $75 card. I called for them to fix the problem. They had to escalate this issue multiple times with my coaxing on multiple phone calls and probably took about a month for me to get a replacement card. So $75 of my money locked up for a month because of their mess up.
I also had an issue where I paid for an online service and that online service provider did not deliver on the service I paid for. I contacted that service provider twice via the only contact method they provided with no response. I then took to Vanilla to dispute the charge. I paid for the service in January, the funds are still on hold, awaiting who knows what.
Don't go expecting these cards to work as temporary solutions for pre-authorized monthly purchasing as most of the time the pre-authorized method of billing is not understood by these cards or vice-versa.
Also, the way that you register these cards online, if you have multiple of these cards, you have to have a login for each card. Due to this, you need to keep track of what login is for which card and when you do login, there is no indication as to which card you are logging into, you have to remember that yourself. Why not have one login where you can register and keep track of multiple cards? What an unneeded hassle.
I have now switched over to a reloadable pre-paid visa card. This way I will have no issues with activations and it's easier to keep track of. I'm also hoping the card I got can do pre-authorized transactions properly but have yet to test it.
In conclusion, my message here to all of you is sure those Vanilla cards are great to use in a pinch for something like a gift card but don't expect a great customer experience if something goes wrong and don't expect them to work with pre-authorized transactions. In other words, stay away from these cards.
If you need a credit card solution, first see if you can use paypal, paypal is freaking awesome. Second, try a re-loadable prepaid card but before getting one, do your homework on fees. The money mart Titanium prepaid Visa has a loop hole where if you have one, and you spend the money on it to the point that your card is at a $0 balance, they will still charge you the monthly service fee. You'll come back to reload it a couple months later and they will place the money on it and tell you want you loaded on it is minus the monthly charges. Example: I had one of these cards about 5 or 6 years ago. I had a $0 balance and stopped using it for a while. A couple months later I had to use it for something. I reloaded it with (i forget how much so i'll make up some numbers to show the example) $100. They took my money, charged me the $2 reload fee and then told me the balance was something like $70 something dollars. I immediately balked. They then explained that there were service charges on the account for the previous months. I was obviously pissed off. I know this is still a thing going on as I have witnessed someone go through the same thing recently and have heard the horror stories from others. Do your research on fees. Canada Post has a card that does not charge you monthly if your balance is $0.
