Just picked up one of those Swirl Master Cards (pre-paid) at Supervalue for approx 6e . It's an actual card which can be loaded via payzone. I thought this might be handy travelling etc. But I just had a look at the charges:
Load fee 10 -350 = 2.99
351-500= 3.99
Purchase fee of 2.95% (max 2.95)
ATM withdrawal fee 1.50
Inactive account fee 3.50 (if inactive for 2 months)
I wanted it as an add'l security, but these fees seem stiff enough. By my reckoning, if you loaded 100 bucks and then withdrew it, you would lose almost 4.5%. I can't see the real advantage of this. Am I missing something?