I am not even 30 years old, and I have already had my identity stolen twice. It’s easy to assume that I may have been irresponsible with my personal information, or must have at least had my purse stolen before. There has to be a logical explanation, right? The fact of the matter is that I didn’t give out my social security number any more than anyone else going to school and working a job. I protect my belongings and my personal info like a lioness protects her cubs. Yet, it still happened, and it makes me more cautious -- even paranoid -- about the methods I use to rebuild my damaged credit.

A few years ago I learned that a woman in ...

The United States Treasury Department is going to distribute Social Security benefits via prepaid debit cards issued by Comerica Bank. Here's a clip from the Wall Street Journal article:

"...The card could mean significant cost savings for benefits recipients as well as the federal government, Treasury officials and banking experts say. People who sign up for the card will also gain faster access to their money and avoid some security problems, like stolen checks.

But there are some cardholder fees associated with Direct Express, and a significant education effort may be required to get users to accept and understand the card.

The debit card is part of a broader effort by the Treasury to move to electronic payments. In 2005, the department started its Go Direct campaign, which is designed to encourage benefits recipients with bank accounts to switch to direct ...

The Ready Credit Corporation and the Palm Desert National Bank have joined forces to produce a highly convenient and efficient prepaid debit card solution. It's called the ReadySTATION; it's basically a self-serve kiosk that issues the ReadyCARD prepaid MasterCard®. Each ReadySTATION kiosk issues a prepaid debit card that's activated and ready to use as soon as you buy the card. The ReadyCARD is co-branded with MasterCard, so you can use it to buy products and services wherever merchants accept MasterCard.

ReadySTATION kiosks have already been setup in Minnesota and Texas, with more coming to the rest of the country later this year.

Further details about ReadySTATION kiosks and the ReadyCARD can be found below in the following clip from a recent press release:

"Ready ...

Immigrants often have trouble getting a financial foothold in the U.S. due to banks' stringent ID and minimum deposit requirements. Spanish-speaking immigrants also face the added frustration of a language barrier.

So today's news will probably be music to the ears of immigrants all across the country: PODER has released a new prepaid debit card specifically targeted toward the Spanish-speaking, immigrant population in the U.S.

Like any other MasterCard®-branded, prepaid credit or debit card, the new PODER prepaid debit card can be used to pay for goods and services wherever debit MasterCard is accepted. The PODER prepaid card also features some other exciting benefits that are both free and automatic:

• Up to $10,000 worth of Accidental Death & Dismemberment insurance,
  
  
• Accidental Medical coverage with a hospitalization benefit that covers up to $125.00 per day,
  
  
• Legal ...

The prepaid credit card market continues to heat up, and that means companies are going to be coming out with new prepaid debit / credit cards with added features, in an effort to separate their product from the rest of the pack.

Looks like the folks @ PTS Card Solutions will be releasing a new prepaid debit MasterCard® with rewards. All I can report right now is that the new card will be called the "FastMax Rewards" prepaid debit MasterCard, and it should be released sometime before July of this year. Further details about the FastMax Rewards card can be found below in the snippet from today's press release:

"PTS Card Solutions Inc. (Pink Sheets: PTCD) announced today that Global Links Card Services Inc. ('GLCS'), a wholly owned subsidiary of PTS Card Solutions, has received approval from MetaBank, Sioux ...

It's really no surprise that federal, state and local governments are starting to use prepaid debit cards for all types of payments and disbursements, like child support disbursements. It's all about efficiency, and I think we all like the idea of our government agencies focusing on improving efficiency!

Here's a snippet from an interesting press release that was issued today:

"Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE: FIS), formerly known as Certegy, today announced a three-year exclusive agreement with Official Payments Corp.® , a subsidiary of Tier Technologies (Nasdaq: TIERE) of Reston, Virginia, to issue Visa® prepaid debit cards.

Through its relationships with federal, state and local government entities, Official Payments Corp. facilitates payments between individuals and governments using comprehensive ...

That's right, the Carmen Electra Prepaid Credit Card and the Carmen Electra Gift Cards are coming. One thing's for sure: the card art will be attractive. Yup.

More details can be found below in the snippet from a recent press release:

"Payment Data Systems, Inc. (OTC BB: PYDS), an integrated electronic payments solutions provider, announced today that it has signed an agreement with Meta Payments Systems (MPS), a division of MetaBank. Meta Financial Group, Inc. is the holding company for MetaBank.

Under the Agreement, MetaBank will be the issuing bank for select PDS prepaid card programs running on the various card associations and debit networks.

MPS and PDS will work together to develop a series of competitive celebrity, gift, and personal spending prepaid debit card programs. PDS is focused on aggressively developing and marketing prepaid ...

You probably know MoneyGram as the company that provides money order and money transfer services. Now MoneyGram has teamed up KeyBank to take on the prepaid market, offering a new prepaid debit MasterCard. Details can be found below in the snippet from a press release issued today:

"MoneyGram will debut its new prepaid card program to the convenience store industry during the annual National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show, Nov. 15-18 in Las Vegas. The company expects a full launch of the MoneyGram Prepaid MasterCard® card program in the U.S. in 2006, but select agents will be invited to sign up for early roll-out.

With the prepaid debit card program, MoneyGram is expanding into a new line of payment services. Currently the company is a leading provider of money orders in the U.S. and major provider ...

Prepaid credit and debit cards are selling very well in the United States; Mint hopes to make them just as popular in Canada. Here's a snippet from a press release issued today:

"Mint Inc., a subsidiary of Mint Technology Corp. (TSX-V: MIT), is pleased to provide the following update on the Company's progress on the introduction of prepaid credit cards in the marketplace. A widely accepted and popular method of payment in the United States, Mint is the first company to deploy and support prepaid, reloadable credit card programs in Canada.

Mint announced today that two of the Company's prepaid, co-branded credit cards have launched to date and are being sold through retail outlets in and around Toronto. Initial sales of the cards show a positive trend in consumer acceptance. Furthermore, another five prepaid, co-branded credit cards are due to be launched over the ...

As a testament to the increased popularity of prepaid payroll cards, Wachovia Bank has just unveiled a new prepaid (Visa) debit card designed specifically to compete in the prepaid payroll card market. Here is a snippet from today's press release from Wachovia:

"Wachovia today announced that it has launched Wachovia Direct Pay(R), a Visa-branded prepaid debit card that provides employers an additional option for increased participation in payroll direct deposit. Employers can electronically deposit employees' net pay and other payroll-related funds to the card via ACH. The employees/cardholders can then use the card to access their net pay at ATMs and merchant locations.

Businesses can use Wachovia's Direct Pay to deposit payroll funds for employees who do not have a traditional bank account and do not participate in a direct ...