HI
I am thinking of getting my two teens prepaid visa cards for our trip to Europe. I was thinking it might be safer to have a visa card and some cash. They will be with us, but this gives them some responsibility to keep tabs on their spending with the safety of a travelers check idea?
Anyone have experience with the visa prepaids in Europe?
Thanks

They are a bad deal moneywise. They charge to load them, charge to withdraw money and they give a lousy exchange rate. If they are too young for a bank account, you should open a joint account with each of them and get each their own atm card. Notify the bank of their travel dates and have yourself as the contact person on the accountsin case they run into any problems.

Not all prepaid cards can be used in Europe.

This doesn't apply to foreign use, but they are silly in my book even in the US. I just received a $100 rebate from GE from the purchase of a washer and dryer. But instead of a check, they sent a prepaid Visa card for $100. They are a real pain as when you are down to a balance of something like $20 and you try to charge $30, it simply won't work. You have to pay all but your balance in cash and then use the card. Meanwhile you have to know to the penny what your balance is at that moment to use it or it won't work. I saw with the literature that you can call and get a pin to use it at an ATM. Great idea. So I called and did so to be told that I'd only be able to withdraw $92.50 when I put it in an ATM, as there is a $7.50 charge for using it at ATM's. That's 7.5%. Are they kidding?

The only country where I've needed to use a prepaid card is in Tanzania. For Europe, a simple debit card will be fine.

We've gotten pre-paid Visa cards as rebates before too - and they are indeed a pain.