O2 and NatWest launch fee free prepaid Visa cards

O2, partnering with NatWest, has launched O2 Money, a new O2 business, with 2 fee free prepaid Visa cards as the first products on offer.

The 2 prepaid Visa cards, Cash Manager and Load & Go, are fee free when used in the UK and are aimed at different people.

Cash Manager – is aimed at those who need to carefully manage their money, balancing their outgoings of rent, mortgage and bills with their disposable spending money.

Load & Go – is aimed at younger people, aged 13+, to provide them with the benefits of a Visa card in a controlled, safe environment.

O2 is the first mobile provider to enter the UK personal finance market.

It might be a bold move but as Ronan Dunne, O2′s UK Chief Executive says ‘We believe we are at the start of a journey of the coming together of phone and wallet and we intend, through O2 Money, to be at the forefront of this trend’.

In general these cards are being well received in the market.

Louise Bond at uSwitch comments ‘These fee free cards could be the perfect solution for people that either struggle to manage a monthly budget or just want to ring-fence their spending money away from the money spent on mortgage and bills’.

And Joanne Garcia, Head of Credit cards at Confused.com said ‘The O2 Load & Go card which is aimed at children aged 13 and over, will help educate and ensure that financial control is learned from a young age and young people won’t have to worry about carrying and losing cash.’

Key points about the cards include

Cash Manager

• Money can be loaded using a single or regular online transfers
• The card can be used as a normal debit card. Real time balance updates are sent to your mobile after every transaction
• You can only spend what’s on the card, no more
• It’s available free to O2 Pay Monthly and active Pay & Go customers

Load & Go

• Available to those 13 and over. A letter will be sent to the parent or guardian of anyone applying for the card who is under 16
• Parents can loand money onto the card over the internet or money can be loaded on over 20,000 locations, including O2 stores, PayPoint and e-pay outlets.
• Offers security through Chip and Pin
• The Load & Go card cannot be used in certain retail outlets or websites, such as online gambling sites
• Real time text balances are provided each time the card is used
• The card is available to pay monthly and active Pay & Go customers aged 13+.

Many people are also turning to prepaid cards to get the best deal on their holiday travel money.

Other providers of prepaid cards include such as Virgin Money, Cashplus and the Freedom Prepaid Card.