Transferring money from one account to another has become so easy these days. But how can one deposit their check onto their prepaid debit card? To this day, many find this task difficult. Before we get into the topic, let us understand about prepaid debit cards.
What is a prepaid debit card?
You can use prepaid debit cards only if you had loaded enough money onto the card. It can be used in any place where they have the facility to accept these kinds of cards.
Prepaid cards are otherwise known as “pay-as-you-go” cards or “stored value” cards. Paying using prepaid cards is much safer than paying through cash.
Prepaid cards are issued by banks, retailers, credit card companies, and also by other financial services. When you run out of balance in these cards, you can always transfer money from other accounts, deposit money at the place where you received the card, use ATMs, etc. Using checks to deposit money onto the card can be done in many ways. Let’s look at the different methods used to do that process.
In-Person Deposits at Banks or at Reloading Locations
All prepaid cards are distributed by official banks. The card issuers are quite different from the issuing bank. Some banks may directly distribute the prepaid card to the customers while others distribute it through retailers or financial services.
So, before you can approach the bank and deposit the check, you will have to know the routing number on the prepaid card and the account number associated with it.
For example, the Brinks Master card is issued by the Republic Bank and Trust Company. You can directly approach the bank if they have any branches near your location and deposit the check at the bank.
Upon submitting the check, you will be asked to sign and provide ID proof. Once done, the money from your check will be deposited into the prepaid card. This could be the easiest way because you don’t have to pay any extra fee for depositing the check.
At reload locations, you can deposit cash into your prepaid debit card, but usually, you will have to pay some fee to do that. The fee could vary from 2$ to 5$ depending on the amount you are depositing. If it’s above 1000$, you may have to pay an extra fee for that.
Secondly, many prepaid debit cards issued by companies like PayPal, Netspend, and Brinks have so many reload locations across the country.
You can pick the nearest one and deposit the cash by paying an average fee of 3$ for that. The check deposited may take some time to reflect in your prepaid card, but the time varies with each card issuer. Always ensure that you load your cash at genuine reload locations.
ATM Check Deposits
Similar to depositing checks at the bank or at reloading locations, you can deposit checks at ATM if the card issuers have allowed such facility.
You may incur some charges to load the check at the ATM, but it is much better than cashing the check directly at banks.
If you have trouble locating the ATM machine, you could always use locator apps like All Point Network and Money Pass. All Point has over 55,000 ATMs and Money Pass has over 37,000 ATMs across the nation. If you are using their ATM card and services you don’t have to pay any surcharge fees for those services.
But if you are using cards that are not related to U.S Bank cards, then you will have to pay the fees.
The only thing is, you will have to choose ATMs located outside of your bank to deposit the cash into your prepaid card. The steps to do that are simple.
- Insert the debit card into the ATM machine.
- Once the card is locked, select the language you want to continue
- Enter your PIN number to proceed further.
- You will have some options displaying: “withdrawal”, “deposit”, “Check balance” etc.
- Click “deposit” option.
- It shows Check or Cash option, click Check
- Insert your check in the section where the green light blinks. (Ensure to sign your check on the back before inserting)
- ATM will read the details and ask you to confirm the amount.
- Click the amount that’s on the check.
- If it’s all correct, you would receive a receipt to show that the transaction is done successfully.
Cashing the Check
Cashing the check directly at the point of sale is probably the most expensive way to deposit the money into your debit card. It involves two steps, which means you will have to pay the fees twice.
Retails stores like Kmart, Walmart, gas stations, and grocery stores will cash your checks, but you have to pay around 3$ for it. On the other hand, check cashing stores may charge even more than that to cash your checks.
Third-Party Applications
The easiest way to deposit your check is by using third-party applications. Not all banks allow you to deposit a check using the mobile app.
So, many users use convenient check deposit applications like Ingo Money. You can download it from the Google Play Store or Apple Play store.
The steps involved in it are simple, all you have to do is take a front and back picture of your check. Always ensure to sign the back of your check.
Once uploaded, the bank will take around 10 days to process the check. The fees charged for payroll checks, government checks, and other checks are different. If you need the check to be processed immediately, you can pay an extra fee and can process your check.
On the other hand, many banks, such as Republic Bank and Trust Company, The Bancorp Bank, and Meta Bank issue cards that support third-party applications like Brinks, PayPal, Netspend, and Western Union Netspend Master Card, which have mobile applications to deposit checks.
No Check Deposit
Last but not least option. If you want to deposit money into your prepaid debit card directly, you could avoid using checks completely. To do that, you should provide your bank account number as well as your routing number on the card to the person who gives you the check and ask them to transfer the amount directly to your card. That way, you could avoid unnecessary fees or steps involved in encashing the check.
Conclusion
Checks have become an inevitable part of our life even though there are many advanced payment options. But we don’t need any complicated procedures to deposit the checks onto the prepaid cards. Hopefully, by now, you may have some idea about doing it. You can choose different methods we have mentioned, or completely go for online payment mode.