MyCardBlog

Greent Dot, the largest prepaid debit card issuer, has teamed with Paypal to let Green Dot prepaid debit card users to load their money to Paypal account directly via the Greent Dot’s MoneyPak. Usually, when a user wants to use Paypal, he or she needs to have a valid US bank account or credit card to be eligible to register at Paypal. This move will let people to shop anywhere PayPal is accepted without the need for a bank account or credit card.

MoneyPak, a prepaid debit card, can be purchased with cash at a retail store like Walmart, CVS/pharmacy, Kmart, Rite Aid and Walgreens. The money in the prepaid debit card then can be loaded directly into a PayPal account and used to shop online anywhere PayPal is accepted, including eBay.

The new MoneyPak has more functions than just load the money to PayPal account. For example, MoneyPak allows people to reload prepaid cards, make cash payments, pay bills and fund other accounts. MoneyPak is powered by Green Dot’s industry-leading cash acceptance network, and costs $4.95 or less.

More details can be found at http://www.moneypak.com.

HSBC Direct Online Savings Account owners now have a chance to get $50 bonus for using your HSBC Debit MasterCard. This is a good time to open a new online payment account (in order to use your debit card) and use your debit card to get $50 free money. Following is the rule:

• Promotion page is here at HSBC Direct.
• Open a new online payment account (checking).
• Make 3 debit card transactions to get $50 bonus.

Important notices are highlighted in the fine print:

To earn a bonus, you must open an Online Payment Account by September 30, 2009, and make three debit card purchases with your HSBC Debit MasterCard^® with PayPass^TM by October 31, 2009. ATM transactions and cash withdrawals do not qualify. Bonus will be deposited into your Online Payment Account by December 31, 2009. Account adjustment transactions/returns are not considered eligible for this offer. Transactions from unauthorized card use or made with lost, fraudulent HSBC Debit MasterCard with PayPass cards are void. To be eligible you must have been an existing HSBC Direct Online Savings Account customer as of September 8, 2009. Limit one bonus per household. The $50 bonus will be reported on IRS Form 1099.

Good luck to get the $50 bonus from HSBC!

I got an email from Chase titled “Get Free debit rewards with your Chase checking account”. Form this email, I can tell that simply enrolling your Chase debit card at Visa Extras (WaMu debit cards are also eligible) and you can  get 5,500 bonus points which can be redeemed as a $10 gift card. SO if you are free for about 5 min, you can enroll you debit card at Visa Extras and get an easy $10 gift card .

The link to enroll your Chase Visa Debit Card is here. (You must have to enroll before September 30, 2009 by above link to get 5,500 bonus points.) That link will bring you to visaextras.com to get enrolled. Once you finish the enrollment process, all you have to do is wait until the bonus points appear in your account. You might be also interested in using your debit card to get more points (which I do not suggest—simply because your need 5,500 points for a $10 gift card at visaextras compared to 6,000 points for $50 gift card at Citi thankyou network.).You need to know what kinds of “qualifying purchases” are eligible to earn points.

• Purchases for which you are required to sign
• Internet purchases (except for gambling)
• Phone or mail order purchases
• Bill payments
• Contactless blink_® purchases (purchases made by holding your card or other device up to a secure reader instead of swiping your card)
• Small dollar purchases for which you are not required to sign, made with your enrolled debit card, unless any of such purchases are authorized with a Personal Identification Number (”PIN”) or are non-qualifying purchases.

To earn points, if prompted for “Debit or Credit,” always select “Credit” and sign for the purchase.
Your $10 gift card will be awarded by posting 5,500 bonus rewards points to your Chase Extras account following the expiration of this promotion.

Today I received a mail from Discover Card. It seems that Discover Card is going to launch a new card-Current by Discover Card. This Current by Discover Card is actually a debit card. It is not a credit card. According to the introduction, this card is designed for parents to teach teens to manage money. This card is a new debit card which allows parents to set daily spending limit.

What is Current by Discover Card?

Unofficially, this Current by Discover Card is a new kind of debit card which allows parents and their teens to control and introduce smart spending habits. With this new debit card, children can learn how to manage their money and develop spending habits. This card can be used at everywhere that Discover Card is accepted. You can even get cash from ATMs.

What’s new with Current by Discover Card?

The only feature that catchs my eyes is it allows parents to set daily/weekly/monthly spending caps and also the ability to block certain kinds of merchant categories like liquor stores, tobacco stores, bars and ATM withdrawals. This Current by Discover Card also features e-mail, tet message and online statement to let parents monitor and track their chilren’s useage of money.

It’s easy to load money to this Current by Discover Card. Parents can set up their account to automatically add money to the Current by Discover Card from their Discover Card or another major credit card or debit card, from a bank account or by direct deposit. Teens can also set up free direct deposit and have their paycheck deposited into the account. There is a $2,500 per card limit on this card.

Parents can customerize daily, weekly or monthly spending limit for each Current by Discover Card. The limit can be adjusted easily. Since this is a debit card, this card will not affect parents or teens’ credit report.

AS I mentioned at the very beginning, this card allows parents restrict certain merchant categories. This can be done easily in the account center by clicking “Manage This Card” tab.

There are different card designs to choose from. The only downside of this card is there is a $5 membership fee for each month. So the annual fee would be $60. More details can be found at CurrentbyDiscover.com or 1-866-99-CURRENT (1-866-992-8773).

If you shopped at Macy’s during the days before the Christmas, you should probably look at your bank account. According to the latest news, a computer error may have led to thousands of Macy’s customers being overcharged the weekend before Christmas. Of course, this computer glitch only applied to debit card shoppers.

Costumers who used their debit cards as the payment method at Macy’s were double or even triple charged for purchases made that day (December 20th between 1:00 and 2:45 pm.). The glitch only occurred on debit card purchases, those made with credit cards were not affected.

According to the spokesman at Macy’s, Macy’s had a system issue on Saturday, Dec. 20, from 1 to 2:45 p.m. at stores in Macy’s Central and East divisions, which may have caused multiple charges to some customers’ checking accounts. The problem has been identified and corrected now.

Macy’s Central division has 236 stores in 18 states in the South and Midwest. And the East division operates 253 stores in 20 states and the District of Columbia. Macy’s won’t tell us how many people were affected by the computer glitch. I believe there are a lot of customers were affected by this computer error especailly during the holiday season.

How to correct this problem?

If you used debit card as payment method at the checkout, you should closed monitor your checking account. If you dins any errors on your bank statement, you should contact Macy’s immediately. You can send a fax of your bank statements to 513-573-2433 and label it “Attention: Third Party Credit.” Macy’s should have the correct materials to credit the money to your accounts.

ING Direct was just mentioned here several days ago about a lawsuit against a customer who took a total of $9,180 from ING via “refer a friend” program. ING just released a new promotion targeted to selected customers for using their Electric Orange Debit Card. This promotion was sent out via email. Anyone who received the email can get either a $10 or $20 bonus for using ING Electric Orange Debit Card in November.

According to the promotion page, you have to do the following steps to get the bonus:

1. You are enrolled in the Electric Orange Checking Account.

2. Make at least 5 purchases of $10 with your Electric Orange Debit Card in November.

3. The purchases must be displayed on your November statement.

4. A $20 bonus will be automatically deposited into your Electric Orange Checking Account by December 15th.

5. Only 1 bonus is allowed for each account.

The promotion page for the $20 bonus can be found at http://www.ingdirect.com/wise.

If you are an ING Electric Orange Checking Account owner, you are automatically enrolled and will receive an email soon. However, if you are not an existing ING Electric Orange Checking Account owner and want to apply for a new one, you are not qualified to receive this promotion.

As I mentioned in the “Top 7 Online Banks for High Interest Rate“, ING Direct was rated as one of the top online savings account and was famous for its easy user interface. Don’t be scared by the story of the lawsuit, if you just want to refer your friends to ING.

For those who don’t have an Electric Orange Account, there is another promotion running which will give new customers $50 bonus. But you have to do it by October 31, 2008.

Here is how:

1. Open an Electric Orange account online
2. Enter EM227 when prompted for a reference code
3. Activate your debit and make 3 signature-based transactions within 45 days
4. Receive a $50 credit in your account within 50 days

If you want to open an ING Direct Electric Orange Checking Account, you should act soon.

Capital One is reported to launch a nee type of rewards debit card that would change how banks and consumers approach debit cards last year. The unique feature of this debit card is: It can be linked to any bank account and used for purchases and ATM withdrawals, just like the debit card consumers get from their bank when they open a checking account. Another appealing feature of this card is better rewards. Plus this card also features zero-liability. This new type of debit card is being used by some Capital One credit card users.

Today, I received an email from Capital One indicating that if you apply for a new Capital One Debit MasterCard and make a first purchase, you would get 5,000 bonus No Hassle Points. The 5,000 No Hassle Points card be redeemed as a $50 gift card from Macy’s, Amazon.com, or Spa Finder. Furthermore, you can get 1 No Hassle Point for every dollar you spent on this card just like other Capital One credit cards do. However, this offer appears to require you to be a current Capital One credit cardholder.

During the application process, you have to link you current bank checking account to this debit card. You have to verify bank account access.

Basic features of this debit card:

• Earn No Hassle Points^SM on debit purchases. Earn 1 point per dollar spent when you sign for debit purchases.
• No need to open a new checking account. Your transactions are deducted from your existing checking account, wherever you bank.
• Shop with confidence, this card comes with MasterCard Zero Liability.
• There are 9 card designs to choose from.

Please note that, in order to get 1 No Hassle Point, you have to choose “credit” purchase at the check out. A credit purchase means a signature-based purchase. A signature-based purchase is one where you select “credit” (not “debit”) and typically sign a receipt instead of entering a PIN.

The application page can be found at: http://www.capitalone.com/debit/index2.php

The reference code is:K3E6L8K149

You can also call Capital One at 1-866-812-6923 to apply for this card.

Chase just released another promotion on Chase Visa Check Card. My latest Chase check card promotion was posted here from which you can get $25 credit for every $250 charged on Chase Visa Check card with “no PIN” purchases. It seems this is a targeted offer and only those invited can enroll their Chase check cards. If you can’t register your Chase check cards, you can try this offer.

This summer you can get 3% cash back (maximum $200) when you use your Chase Check Card at grocery stores, gas stations and discount stores. Offer starts from now through August 31, 2008.

Here is how it works:

1. Enroll your Chase Visa Check Card now (through this link)
2. Use your card at gas stations, grocery stores and discount stores from July 1 – August 31, 2008
3. Earn 3% cash back (credited to your checking account statement)

The 3% cash back is not so much compared to other credit cards like Chase Freedom Card, Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card, Citi mtvU Card, or Blue Cash from American Express. But 3% cash back is the most you can get from a check card or debit card which typically only offers 1% cash back. This offer is good for those without any credit card as I mentioned above. If your you Chase check card is invited to join the previously mentioned “$25 for every $250″ offer, you can try whether you can stack this offer with that one.  If you can get both promotions work for you, then you can save pretty much money this summer.

However, in order to get the cash back, you have to remember that:

When you pay at a keypad, be sure to press CREDIT instead of DEBIT. Purchases made using your Personal Identification Number (PIN) do not qualify. As Chase clearly indicates in the promotion page, the qualifying purchases include all debit card purchases made without using a PIN. Such “non-PIN” purchases include purchases you sign for, contactless “blink” purchases, Internet purchases, phone or mail-order purchases, small dollar purchases that do not require a signature, and bill payments (where billers process the transaction as a credit card). Cash advances and cash transactions do not qualify. If you are asked “Debit or Credit” at checkout, always select “CREDIT” and sign for the purchase.