Hi
I just read about this in a magazine, I'm sure an erudite Fodorite can tell me what the downside is.
The card is a stored-value debit card. Funds can be added to it immediately by phone or intrnet, and the card can be used at atms and and where Visa is accepted. There are transaction fees.
visabuxx.com

Okay, fire away!

--anything wrong with it?

There are transaction fees.

It's for teens to use, funded by parents. There are some fees, but it doesn't seem to be quite as costly as the other 'travel money cards'. The cards can expire but I didn't read all the disclosure to see if that is avoided by continued use.

I bought these for my three kids quite some time ago and it's a nice way to make a monthly allowance distribution for teens but there are limits which is good (learn about credit) and bad (they get declined for unknown reasons).Oldest child has shed hers and kids 2 and 3 still have them for college spending purposes unrelated to edification.

I have them for my two kids as well. As suehoff says, it's a great way to pay allowance -- I do it monthly -- instead of constantly going to get cash and trying to remember whether I've already paid, etc... Also, I don't have to worry about them getting stranded without money for food or a ride home or whatever. And when my son was in Germany last year as an exchange student, I could add funds to his card from home, without him having to carry a lot of cash or traveler's checks. There's a $2 fee to "load funds," which is why I usually do it only once a month. So for teens it's perfect, IMO.

For adults operating with their own funds - it has no advantages over your own ATM card - and is way more expensive.

that's it in a nutshell I guess.
I was hoping that it would be a safe and inexpensive alternative to carrying a debit card that is linked to a bank account.

Hi elaine, here is what I am going to do before I go to Italy again. I am going to open up an additional checking account that will be for travel only. And of course I will get an ATM card. That way I do not have to worry about my regular checking account. You might think about doing this too. I will take the ATM card for my regular checking account (just as a back up) and credit cards of course.