How I Used A Prepaid Master Card To Rebuild My Credit Score

My situation may well have been a lot worse that yours will ever. When my business went under it took with it my bank account, my debit cards, and replaced it with huge queues at the post office to pay standard household bills.

And without debit cards and direct debit, trips to the post office became strategic missions. Forget one thing and I'd have to go back home, get the bill, make sure I had the cash, go back to the post office and queue AGAIN. And no matter which post office you visit, they all close down counters as the number of people in the queue line increases.

I despise queuing. There's 2 years of my life I'm never getting back.

You probably take it for granted. A bill arrives.

You might whine about it. You can protest about it. You finish your coffee, call the company, pay with your card and it's over.

But, just suppose you don't have bank cards or automatic payments from your account. You're back to just cash in hand. Ever tried squeezing a dollar bill down a telephone line? Or feeding them into your laptop? You have to physically get off your butt and go and pay.

At first, when it all fell apart, no one would give me a bank account. Then I was allowed an account where I could pay in and withdraw cash. Cash in. Money out. Just that! No cards, no other facilities. Just a bucket to put money in!

And then NIRVANA - I discovered prepaid credit cards. Instant bliss. Cue music, roll back the clouds, and let the rays of sun light bathe you. Sanity was restored to my life again.

Who knew a piece of plastic could be more inspiring than a Tony Robbins infomercial.

This time just one trip to the post office and I could pack that card with enough credit to take care of the bills and still have room for dinner with my wife. Ok, dinner at MacDonald's may be stretching her imagination, but hey, I had plastic in my back pocket.I was a man.

Now, bills no longer meant a day out. Are you calling to pay today sir, became the nectar of gods. And I didn't have to just window shop online. I could actually add to shopping cart and mean it. And it was impossible to burn through more than I had on the card, so the debt stayed locked down.

Personally I've never had to deal with identity theft, but if someone had hijacked my card number, they'd been browsing the holiday magazine instead of escaping to paradise.

Then I found out that the card company had a facility where they charge $5 a month for using the card. And what was cool was at the end of 12 months, they add a record to your credit file saying you successfully repaid a $60 loan.

That helped turn my credit file around. And allows you to get off lonely planet and rejoin the happy credit crowd.

Some moments remain with you forever. Like your first kiss. Your first child. And being told, yes, you can have a bank account with a real working debit card again.

I got on the phone to share the ecstasy of my daughter being born. I phoned her again to share the elation of having a real bank account again.

And I still use the prepaid card. I use it for what we call treat days. Load up the card with the amount of money we want and can afford to spend and off we go to enjoy blowing it.

So claim your prepaid card. And get back in the cool credit crowd.

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