Homeless by Choice
North America
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Hello Everyone,
I am a grandfather to two college graduates. In the past, I would give each of them a $25 Subway Gift Certificate for occasions such as: Back to school in fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentine day, etc. Since they are graduates (one is teaching high school this fall and the other is starting his Masters Program), I would like to switch to a more appropriate gift for these minor events. My idea is first to make the gift open ended (not tied to a specific store: Subway, Target, etc) and secondly something that I can reload from my computer.
Prepaid Visa Cards that are available a Walmart, Family Dollar, etc but all have a service charge and cannot be reloaded. They must be repurchased for each event. Buying a Prepaid Card directly at the store of interest (Kohls, Walmart, Shell Oil) eliminates the service charge BUT they force my grandkids where to use the gift which is exactly what I don't want.
My bank used to issue Visa Debit Cards that could be reloaded from a bank account but they stopped that practice. I was wondering if our forum members had any suggestions for me.
Thank you,
LeRoy
Homeless by Choice
FULL TIMER since 2012
2015 Chevy 3500, Duramax, 4X4, DRW, Crew cab, Long bed
2013 Northern Lite 8'11"Q Sportsman truck camper
2015 Polaris RZR Side by Side
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MDKMDK
Free(er), for now, until the next "variant"
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Amazon. Online, simple, millions of things they can use it for.
Mike. Comments are anecdotal or personal opinions, and worth what you paid for them.
2018 (2017 Sprinter Cab Chassis) Navion24V + 2016 Wrangler JKU (sold @ ????)
2016 Sunstar 26HE, V10, 3V, 6 Speed (sold @ 4600 miles)
2002 Roadtrek C190P (sold @ 315,000kms)
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Homeless by Choice
North America
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MDKMDK wrote:Amazon. Online, simple, millions of things they can use it for.
Thanks, I will keep that in mind.
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jetboater454
Camping or home
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American Express prepaid debit card. Used to be able to load free at walmart,but walmart starting charging so Family Dollar does the free reloads now. I have had one for over 10 years. Use it to pay some bills and it's accepted most places. It can be loaded from your bank account on the computer too.
https://www.bluebird.com/?sid=cr6036470573568469
2011 Toyota Tundra DC Long Bed
2001 Harley Dyna Lowrider
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way2roll
Wilmington NC
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Amazon.
2023 FR Sunseeker 2400B MBS
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Homeless by Choice
North America
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jetboater454 and way2roll
Good morning,
The girl at my bank that I talked with yesterday stated to go with Free and Easy checking ($0 balance required) for each grandchild and getting a debit card. This requires my grandkids to meet me at the bank to open their joint accounts; extremely hard to coordinate with their busy schedule. Each of them lives a couple of a hundred miles from each other and from my bank.
My bank closed their office in my town about ten years and their closest branch is over 100 miles away; that's the reality of being based in a remote area. I don't have anything better to do today so let's go for a ride thru the countryside. I am going to see if I can open two Free and Easy's in my name and get a debit card for each account. I don't know about all the legalities of this but you can guess who will be the holders of those debit cards. Since the accounts will be in my name, I will be able to transfer money from my main account into those Free and Easy accounts.
My goal for this project is to allow my grandchildren to have Freedom of Choice and to use a Card, which in my mind, is a reminder that grandpa gave them a present. The Amazon Gift Card is a nice idea but again limits them to an on-line purchase. A bank debit card gives them the freedom of choice and can still be used for internet purchases.
Lets see what others have to say and to what I find out at the bank today.
Thank you,
LeRoy
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Crowe
Merrimack, NH
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Amazon. You can get pretty much anything you need/want on there including food.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be Douglas Adams
RV-less for now but our spirits are still on the open road.
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p220sigman
Tallahassee, FL, USA
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You can also always use a service like Venmo or Zelle and just send them money directly. Chances are your bank uses one of these or a similar service.
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jetboater454
Camping or home
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Can they open the Free and easy online? Some banks you can open accounts by just sending copies of certain documents. Maybe try Ally(sp) bank. They are 100% online.
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