Smart idea (Smartcreds)

Member Name: harlequin1

Product:	Smartcreds
Date:	18/09/01 (253 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: do not have to own a credit card to make online purchases, cannot overspend

Disadvantages: more retailers need signing up to use the system

A notice in my local post office about a Pay as you go Internet credit card caught my eye, so I decided to look into it and see what it was all about.

Smartcreds is a fantastic idea for people who cannot or will not get a credit card. You can do your online shopping without having to worry about spending money you haven’t got.

If you are like me and you are not very sensible with money then this is definitely for you.
Smartcreds is a top up credit card that you can top up by direct debit, with cash at your post office or local garage in fact anywhere that has a paypoint sign in there window.

You can get either a swipe card or scratch cards to top up your card. Pretty similar to the mobile phone top up cards.

You can register for a Smartcreds card at their secure site at http://www.smartcreds.co.uk or you can pick up a form at the post office.

I don’t suppose you could really call it a credit card because you aren’t actually getting credit. You are paying in advance and can only spend what money is on your card. More like a debit card I suppose.

Another good thing about the smartcreds card is that you don’t have to be eighteen to get one. You do have to send them proof of your age however so that under 18’s can’t use it to buy alcohol or 18 rated films etc but you can use it if you are under 18 to purchase CD’s, clothing, computer games, toys etc.

There are no fees for using the card smartcreds make their money by charging the retailers a small fee. Which sounds great to me.

Once you have registered for your card you are under no obligation to use it. They will not charge you anything for not using it.

So far you can only shop at sites listed on the smartcreds site. There are loads of sites which already accept the smartcreds card such as CD Wow.com, urban junkies.com, blushing buyer.com in fact far too many to list here.
New sites are co
ming on board every day.

I have registered for and received my card although I haven’t actually got any money on it yet, as I am skint as usual.

The reason I thought this card would be such a good idea is because, many ISP’s such as Freeserve and AOL won’t let you pay for their services by direct debit any more, you have to sign up with a credit card. I don’t have a credit card and am having trouble getting a good ISP on unlimited access.

Smartcreds do not have an ISP on board yet so my plan backfired. I have emailed them and suggested that getting the likes of Freeserve or Aol on board would be a good idea so I will just have to wait and see what happens.

Summary: