Prepaid Visa® RushCard Review

The Prepaid Visa® RushCard is a Visa card used as an alternative to a traditional credit card. The card can be used at all places Visa credit cards are accepted. Because you prepay your balance, there’s no risk of going over your credit limit or facing overdraft charges. There’s no credit check required to get the RushCard, so you can qualify even if you have bad credit.

How to Add Money to Your Rush Card

You can add money to your RushCard in several different ways. Set up direct deposit from your job or have government benefits directly deposited onto your card using your Direct Deposit ID number. Direct deposit is free. You can make a cash deposit via Money Gram, Western Union, or Green Dot MoneyPak. Loading cash requires a $3.95 or $4.95 fee depending on which method you choose. There’s a maximum loan limit of $1,000 per day. You can transfer funds from your Paypal account for free. Mail a check made out to you or RushCard payable for less than $1,000 and have the check deposited onto your account for free. Even tax refund checks can be deposited onto your RushCard. RushCard says they’ll return all checks for more than $1,000. Bank transfers are also an option.

Pricing and Plans

RushCard has two places and two pricing methods: A monthly plan and a pay-as-you go plan. Both plans have a $3.95 card fee. The monthly plan costs $9.95 per month. With the monthly plan, you don’t pay a convenience fee on purchases made without your PIN (credit transactions) but you do pay a $1.00 fee on charges made with your PIN. The pay-as-you-go plan, on the other hand, doesn’t charge a monthly fee, but charges $1.00 convenience fee for each transaction, regardless of whether you use your PIN. On the pay-as-you-go plan, the convenience fees are capped at $10 per month.

RushCard has several other fees: a $.50 ATM balance inquiry fee, $2.50 ATM withdrawal fee ($1.95 on the pay-as-you-go plan), $1.00 paper statement fee, and a $1.95 maintenance fee on the pay-as-you-go plan if you’ve made no transactions within the past 90 days. You’ll pay $2.00 to enroll your card in bill pay and $1.00 bill payment fee for each bill you pay with your card. If you want to change your plan, you’ll have to pay $3.95 fee. Remember that the ATM provider may also charge another fee.

Credit Builder?

RushCard brags that your bill payments are reported to Lexis Nexis and PRBC, but neither of these are major credit bureaus widely used by creditors and lenders. So using your RushCard to pay your bills may keep your services on, but don’t expect it to drastically improve your credit standing.

Other Perks

Get a $5 bonus for each friend who sings up for a RushCard.

Once you have your RushCard, you’re eligible to sign up for their health care discount plan, which provides you discounts with certain medical providers. The health plan has a monthly fee.