BBVA Compass SafeSpend Debit Card Review | Prepaid Cards For Teens
BBVA Compass SafeSpend Debit Card Review | Prepaid Cards For Teens
One of the side effects of the recent financial legislation is that banks and other financial institutions have been looking for ways to make up for lost revenues. Besides the fact that free checking is now an endangered species, we have witnessed more and more companies offering prepaid debit cards. BBVA Compass is one of the latest to do so, with the SafeSpend Card, a reloadable, prepaid VISA® debit card.
If you can’t open a checking account, or are looking for a debit card for your teenage son or daughter, or are a regular of local check cashing stores, you might want to take a look at the BBVA Compass SafeSpend Card. Like all prepaid debit cards, you only have to be 18 and be able to present a photo ID; there is no credit approval required, and no checking with ChexSystems. So even if you have bad credit or have your name on the ChexSystems database, you can still get the SafeSpend card and make purchases offline, shop online, as well as manage bill payments with a debit card.
Related: Bank accounts for minors
Once you apply for and get the SafeSpend Card, funds can be direct deposited onto the card, transferred from an existing BBVA Compass checking account or reloaded at any Visa ReadyLink location.
About Visa ReadyLink (From the Visa website):
Add money to your card wherever you see the Visa ReadyLink symbol.
It’s fast and easy to load your Visa Prepaid card* with additional funds at places conveniently close to where you live, work or shop. You can quickly add funds to your cards at these stores:
- MoneyGram Agents
- Safeway
- 7-Eleven®
- Circle K (at TIO Kiosk)
- ExxonMobil (at TIO Kiosk)
- Maverik (at TIO Kiosk)
- Carrs
- Dominick’s
- Genuardi’s
- Pak ‘n Save
- Pavilions
- Randalls
- Vons
- Tom Thumb
The SafeSpend Card is available for a flat $4 monthly service charge and carries a host of features such as direct deposit, online banking, bill payments, email/text message alerts, unlimited PIN and signature purchases, and your money is FDIC-insured.
Reloading or performing a balance inquiry at a BBVA Compass ATM is free but there is an initial loading of funds charge of $4 and withdrawals at BBVA Compass ATMs cost $1 each. However, SafeSpend cardholders won’t be able to do much in-branch banking or write checks. The lack of check writing capabilities is disappointing but not a deal-breaker.
Also, prepaid debit cards are ideal for teens and young adults looking to getting their first payment cards as they can help control spending. Then again, those cards are most beneficial once people have learned how to budget and manage their money in a responsible manner. It’s not possible to spend more than the available balance on the account, which obviously means there are no overdraft charges on the SafeSpend card. It also means that for teens, this can represent the first “real” lesson on how money works.
“The SafeSpend Card is a great money management tool for parents who aren’t ready to give their kids credit or debit cards,” said Jon Mulkin, Director of Consumer Segment Group at BBVA Compass, in a press release. “We also expect the card to be popular among people who want to designate their spending money for special purchases like vacations.”
From a cost perspective, a quick review of the terms and conditions suggests that the product isn’t exactly at the low-end of the cost spectrum, but it does establish the beginning of a relationship with the bank, and offers most of the conveniences that come with regular debit cards.