Clearly, one of the main benefits of a prepaid credit cards is that you don't get any credit, so you shouldn't get into debt, but they also offer a lot more. Prepaid card features and benefits vary by card type but generally you can get a prepaid card that can have some or all of them, it simply depends on what you want to use your prepaid card for. See below to get an idea of who offers what, and see what they can do for you. You can also do a quick check using our prepaid card comparison table

Acceptance is a key advantage of any prepaid card or prepaid mastercard. Mainly becuase for most prepaid cards you are almost 100% guaranteed to get one. We say almost as you need to pass a couple of key criteria: Do you live in the UK (are you a resident)? And, for most prepaid card providers, are you over 18? Basically, you may not get one if you are deemed a bit ‘dodgy’ but we think that’s fairly acceptable. Some prepaid card providers, if they can’t fully identify you, will send you a prepaid card, which has some limited functionality, but once you have your prepaid card, you can sort out getting a fully functioning prepaid card any time. Among the suppliers that do this for free are Tuxedo and CashPlus.

Everyone’s favourite, but often this is very specific to you and your needs. One way, that we think you can save money, is by using your prepaid mastercard online. If you haven’t done it before because you haven’t had a card or you have been nervous, your prepaid card gives you the means to go ahead. You can save money by searching out those amazing deals, but you are warned - we take no responsibility for any Ebay, Amazon or iTunes addictions!

A growing number of people are now struggling with a declining credit score. Alternatively, if you are new to the country or are even just out of school or University you may not have a credit rating. Some of the prepaid cards can now offer a service whereby you can build your rating back up. These are only certain prepay cards offered by APS, specifically the cashplus Gold prepaid mastercard, Sterling prepaid card and the Cordoba Gold prepaid card. Cashplus is the first one that introduced their ‘creditbuilder’ and although it sounds quite complicated it’s actually not as long as you have £4.95 in your prepaid card account every month to make your payment. Click here to find out more

A bit of an education about purchase protection for those that don’t know anything about it. For those of you that do, feel free to skip this and see the box on ‘Prepay Protection?’. Normally, you get purchase protection with credit cards, and, if it is the basic protection (as the financial people say ‘In line with section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act’, rather than any paid for insurance protection), this means when you purchase something and it arrives and it’s not what as it was described, or it is faulty or something similar, or if the company you have purchased from goes bust and takes your money with them, minus you getting your goods, you can claim the money back for the purchase. With credit cards, you can normally get the money back for the whole item purchased, even if you only put a deposit down – one of the key advantages of a credit card or prepaid credit card. The key thing to remember is that you need to be able to PROVE that you bought the item in good faith and that it has not lived up to expectation/didn’t arrive at all.

For prepaid cards, as with all cards, it is safer than carrying cash. If you lose your cash it’s gone, if you lose your prepaid card you should be able to stop any losses with one phone call. So if you are used to carrying cash then this is an ideal first step away from it. Alternatively, you may find when you are on holiday you carry much more cash then you normally would, if you use a prepaid travel money card you can replace the need for travellers cheques and cash carrying. Just use your prepaid card as you would use any card in the UK. Check out the Caxton FX prepaid cards or ICE currency cards for great travel prepaid cards.

All the prepay card companies take fraud VERY seriously. Fraud protection is one of the reasons that, when you apply for a prepaid card, you have to supply your name and address details, as they are protecting you from identify theft and all that nasty stuff. Virgin offer the same Fraud protection as you get with their credit cards, which sounds good, but I’m sure that all the major companies offer something very similar.

One of the key benefits of a prepaid card is that you don’t need to link it to your bank account, which means you only have a limited amount of cash at risk if you lose your card. Which should be protected as soon as you call the supplier up to say you’ve had your card stolen or you’ve lost it.

Most, if not all prepaid cards have Chip & PIN. As you probably know, Chip & PIN provides a more secure way to use your prepaid card, as it should reduce card fraud. A fraudster needs both your prepaid card and to know your PIN to get away with any monkey business. However, some prepaid cards come without a Chip – generally those that are instant issue, those that are issued for a specific purpose (such as a payroll card), or those that give you a limited prepay service. So think about how important you think it is for you to have a Chip & PIN and choose your prepaid card accordingly.