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MetaBank issues the Vantage MasterCard. This should not to be confused with an unsecured card, which it is not.

It is designed to be used as a credit card but limits your purchases to the amount of money loaded on it. You can load your card with money several ways; direct deposit, transfer from a checking or savings account, PayPal, or participating merchant. Once you have loaded, you may use it the same way as a credit card. You can make purchases and get cash advances though within the confines of the amount loaded onto the card.

There are two plans; the classic and the premium plan and each plan offers benefits. With either plan benefits include $0 activation fee with direct deposit, guaranteed approval, no overdraft fees, no minimum balance, no credit check, and, free online bill statements.

However, there are also some charges you need to be aware of. Some of these charges include: $4.95 monthly fee for the Classic Plan and $9.95 monthly fee for the Premium Plan; activation fee of $9.95 without direct deposit; $1 fee for U.S. card purchases if you use your PIN (free for Premium Plan); $1 fee if you use an ATM to determine your balance; and, a $2 fee if you use an U.S. ATM to withdraw money. Before you apply for any card, you should always review the terms and conditions and fee schedule.

Also, be careful if you use retail locations to load money as the retailer may charge a fee. Likewise, if you use an international ATM to withdraw money, you will incur a $4.95 fee for the transaction.

And be aware that if you use currency conversion when making a foreign purchase, you will incur a fee of 2.95%. That is a percentage of your purchase, not $2.95. For instance, if you make a purchase in Italy that is the equivalent of $500, you will be assessed a fee of $14.75 for the currency conversion.

Account Now also offers the iAdvance loan option. This is an open-ended line of credit which MetaBank provides to cardholders.

They also offer Credit Builder for free. Credit Builder is a voluntary program which can be accessed when you sign up for online Bill Pay.

The way this works is you pay your bills through Bill Pay and Credit Builder reports your payments to a national credit reporting agency. The only transactions which will be reported to PRBC are the bills you pay using Bill Pay. No card transactions / purchases will be reported.

In summary, if you are looking for a card which limits your purchases, while providing the benefits of online banking and the reporting of timely bill paying, this card may be for you.