I consider the BMO Prepaid Travel Mosaik Mastercard to be the best reloadable prepaid card on the market.
Here's (mostly) why:
- Relatively inexpensive ($6.95 per year, but used to be $9.95 for all 3 years)
- Easy to get (Your credit rating doesn't matter, but they do "hit" it to check your identity)
- Fee schedule is easy to find online as they have nothing to hide (I've had to dig deep on other prepaid cards' websites)
- Easy and free to reload (via bill payment online from most banks, in-branch with cash is allowed if you have a BMO chequing or savings account, maybe even if you can make a good enough sob story as well)
- Issued by a respectable company (Prepaid deposits are not CDIC guaranteed, so stay away from unknown issuers)
- Valid for 3 YEARS (other cards are as low as 3 MONTHS)
- Extended Warranty and Purchase Protection (almost feels like a real credit card now)
- May load between $100 and max allowable balance of $10 000
- When your card expires, if you don't roll it over to a new one, they refund the balance to you (there might be an "applicable" fee for it, but for other cards, they just steal your remaining money)
- Can apply online or in person (used to be online only)
There's a 2.5% foreign currency exchange fee, which I consider a cash-grab rather than reasonable, but having said that, the rate for most Canadian Mastercards and Visas is the same.
If you're in the prepaid Visa/Mastercard market for the long-term as a primary purchasing card, be sure to look into a secured Visa/Mastercard, if you're eligible for one of the non-ripoff ones, they're more universally accepted (especially for hotels and car rentals). Your relationship with your bank can play a strong role in your ability to get a secured card. Secured cards help build your credit rating. If you have bad credit, be sure to check your report from both bureaus for the cost of one phone call and one postage stamp here.
The card also gets relatively few complaints. I have some popular articles on Canadian Prepaid cards with hundreds of comments, and there are few complaints about the BMO card, even though it seems to be the more popular option.
useless to rent a car
Went to rent a cargo van to move found out last second this card is useless. Whole reason I got the card. Not impressed
More details about the BMO Prepaid card
I've been very ill and was recently approved for a disability so haven't been able to file bankruptcy yet. I understand that BMO only does an identity check with a credit bureau. I'm thinking that this would alert my other creditors though. Any comments? Great blog. Thanks.
You can now apply IN PERSON!
In the description above it says "Can apply online (only online actually)", but this info is incorrect!
"Ready to apply? Apply now, In person, Make an appointment at your local branch!"
Just got my card today, WAY better than my cash store/DC Bank pre-paid mastercard that was full of fee's!
-Jamie M.
BMO prepaid MC
I am looking to get one for a gift but want to ensure that my $300.00 gift does not get eaten by fees.
Any one including the BMO employee could you answer the following
1.What doest it take to get this card- creidt history? deiver lic? home address ?
2 Besides the $6.95 charge to activite /yearly fee what other fees?
3 Can any BMO branch hand out this card to all including non BMO customers
A ny other comments would be helpful
thanks
ernie
1. Credit history doesn't
1. Credit history doesn't matter, they just check it to verify identity, that's it. You'll need an address of some sort, it should match other documents with your name on it. Check the forms for exactly what BMO requires.
2. It's a Canadian bank. Of course there are other fees, but you're unlikely to experience them. Your biggest worry is the yearly fee.
3. You don't have to have a BMO anything to get this card. But if you're a BMO customer, you can reload the card faster and put cash instantly on it in any branch. If you're not a BMO chequing account holder, you have to do an online bill-pay to add funds, which may take a day or two.
I recently got the BMO
I recently got the BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard. The best prepaid card out there. I have had some success renting cars with this card. You can also use it for Car2go. I've been successful using this card on many sites where the CIBC Visa Debit wasn't accepted.
bmo prepaid
can you please let me know which car rental places it was accepted at and how much you need to have on the card
thanks
Best card to give to someone living in Cuba
We have friends in Cuba and the process of sending them money can be quite daunting and take quite some time. Can we get one of these cards here, give it to them for them to use in Cuba, and keep loading it with money here in Canada? I had investigated last year about getting an actual BMO Mastercard for them, but that was a non-starter. Any help or suggestions you might have are greatly appreciated. Great articles! Thanks!
In ref to BMO card: How do
In ref to BMO card: How do you reload it if you aren't a BMO customer? Thanks :)
You set up a bill payment
You set up a bill payment through your chequing account. So you pay into the card just as you would pay off a regular credit card, or utility bill.
non-Canadian getting a pre-paid credit card
I'm from the US and need to get a Canadian credit card for Telus to get a Telus account. I only have US identification and will be in Canada for 3-4 months for about 3 years. I'm looking at your article above and you state BMO 'hit" to check your identity. I'm not sure what that means, but can you suggest anything?
Does paypal and ebay accept a bmo prepaid travel credit card?
Hi I was wondering if ebay and paypal accept a bmo prepaid travel credit card to open an account?
BMO Prepaid Travel Masterca
I am inquiring if anyone has booked a hotel room within Canada/US with the BMO prepaid travel mastercard, and what there experience like????
BMO Prepaid card
I went to London and Paris last August and used the BMO prepaid card with no problem. I paid for all of my travel with it. Airfare, hotel, meals, souvenirs...everything. It was fantastic! It was a great way for me to save money towards my trip. Every paycheck I put money on it (used Bill Pay from my TD account), and it was a great tool to keep me on budget. Even when I was out of the country, I set up a Bill Pay to go to my BMO card when I got paid, so that money would be put on my card while I was on vacation.
It's a good way to keep you "honest" and ensure that you don't overspend. Just remember that some vendors like car rental companies, and even some hotels, hold money on your credit card, and that money is not available until it's released. So always put more on the card than you expect you'll need for situations like that as well as unexpected expenses.
Really poor phone service
I like the card BUT they have absolutly the worst phone service to deal with anything by phone is a 15 min wait or more
just to get to a real person
Sounds like every credit card
Sounds like every credit card I've ever used :)
Address?
With this type of card, what will be the billing address I'll have to enter with online purchases? For example, costo.com requires a credit with US address, will it work?
how do u have to be to get
how do u have to be to get this
Apply online through BMO .
Apply online through BMO . You might be able to apply in-branch too.
Can you get money out of ATM with this card?
Can you withdraw cash on this card? So if you have $5000.00 on the card and are travelling can you use an ATM to get cash?
Thanks
BMO Card & ATM Withdrawals
That was what I wanted to know. It seems you can--I found this on the BMO website:
•Make purchases wherever MasterCard is accepted – 30 million locations worldwide. And cash withdrawals from any of the one million ABMs worldwide that accept MasterCard.
•Enjoy PIN protection – You will receive your PIN (Personal Identification Number) 5-10 business days after you receive your card.
I have horrible post-divorce, loserville credit, and I just applied for the BMO one after learning about it on this site, so if I don't get it, I'll post it on here. They do not ask for a SIN on the application, whatever that might mean. I've had a few of these and don't have them now because they suck, but I also had never heard about some of these, so now I can try others like the BMO one. I have been using and quite happy with Vanilla Mastercard for awhile. I attach one to my Paypal account for Netflix, etc., and I have never had one single payment rejected by online merchants and only at the gas pumps for brick and mortar merchants. Releasing of holds and receiving refunds has always been easy too. And I've emailed their customer service a few times and always heard back from them within a few hours or so. But if I ca and never had problems with returns or hold release timing.
This is a really great and easy to follow site. Thanks to the writer for the awesome information and to the people who've left comments with equally helpful information.
BMO Prepaid MasterCard
I have two really stupid questions, the first is: Is the BMO Prepaid Travel MasterCard and the BMO Prepaid Travel Mosaik MasterCard the same thing? I'm asking this because I can't find the Prepaid Travel Mosaik MasterCard on BMO's website. It would be great if they were the same card because according to the website for my bank (Libro Financial) I would be able to make online bill payments if I got the card, meaning I wouldn't need to have a BMO account.
My second question: Is the information that the BMO employee gave outdated or is Libro's website giving me inaccurate information? I suppose that would depend on the answer to my first question, right?
If anyone has the relevant information to my questions I would be greatful if you could take the time to answer them.
It sounds like the same card,
It sounds like the same card, maybe they dropped the Mosaik name, which I think is a good thing, I don't like it when people deliberately spell things wrong. I think Libro is correct, you can just pay the card in the form of a bill payment like any other credit card or bill. To Libro, it's just like any other card, the fact that it's a prepaid card doesn't matter to them.
The only advantage of having a BMO chequing account is that loads are then instant, and you can just walk into a branch and load with cash if you like.
Can refunds be issued to the BMO PrePaid Mastercard?
Hi! I bought a deal voucher online but was not able to use it. The company issued me a refund and sent me the receipt, but I don't know if the refund can be issued to the prepaid MC. Do you know if it is possible? Or if refunds for purchases made with the prepaid card can be issued in another manner? Thanks for your help!
Yes...
Yes...
BMO PRE-PAID Travel Card - Branch Reload
BMO does in fact allow to refill your PRE PAID TRAVEL MASTERCARD in the branch and the teller can do it for you instantly. I usually do mine on-line but just happened to be in the Guildford branch of BM and went up to the teller ans she said absolutely we will do it for and she did! Done instantly!
I told her about this blog and she said I have re-filled 3 today by transferring money from the customers chequing account to their BMO Pre Paid Masterd. So she said whoever is wrting this does not know what they are talking about. Though you may have doing an ABM transfer from one account to another. In that case you do a bill payment and wait 24hrs. Why bothr if you can do it on-line instantly of have a teller do it for you. BMO Branch Tellers word for word.
Hey DannoG, I've updated the
Hey DannoG,
I've updated the article. Perhaps you do have to be a BMO chequing account holder, but maybe not even that. I suppose they just put it through like a bill payment to the card as if it were a regular credit card.
Thanks for your comment!
-Dan
I work at BMO and just wanted
I work at BMO and just wanted to clarify that in order to put money directly onto the Pre-Paid MasterCard at a BMO Branch you MUST have an account (chequing or savings) with us. If you do not, we will not be able to process the transaction for you.
Thanks for clarifying and
Thanks for clarifying and please keep this good card going. It serves a need that isn't met by regular credit cards. I hope BMO sends me a cookie one day for all of the business I give them :)
Reloadable cards for corporate travel
Hi there,
We are looking for a reloadable credit card that can be used by our employees for travel and assoicated expenses. Do you suggest the BMO card for that or is there something else available. We would want $500 on the card and be able to reload it typically weekly.
Thanks
Roxanne
BMO prepaid MasterCard Credit Check
I would like to confirm that BMO does in fact perform a hard inquiry on your credit report, specifically Equifax, when you apply for a BMO Prepaid Mastercard. After requesting my free credit report (Thank you Mr. Dan Matan) I saw that there was an inquiry under "BMO M C NEW APP 1" so keep that in mind before you apply. On another note, this card takes a while to get. I applied on Jan 28th and got it on Feb 21st.
In that case, they probably
In that case, they probably do the credit check just for identity verification. I have applied for the pre-paid card and got it in the mail two weeks later. Then I applied for one of their regular cards and got rejected. There were no missed payments on the credit report but balances on other cards were high compared to credit limits.
BMO Mosaik Prepaid Credit Check
Right, it's just for checking identity. Since they can't really check government databases, they use credit checks to reduce their own risk of giving a card to someone that isn't who they say they are.
Hey, just fyi I got told at a
Hey, just fyi I got told at a Vancouver branch of BMO today that will not run a credit check for this card. Hmmm, I like the card but I have only been in Canada for four months, so likely if the go to check me nothing will come up. Therefore I guess they'll deny my app. Story of my life.
prepaid gift cards
Dan, you mentioned that the best prepaid gift cards are CIBC MasterCard! I have a client who has 40 merchants and we want a gift card exclusive to those shops in Ontario! Is that possible?
Suggestions & comments would be great! Lou
Huh? I don't think CIBC even
Huh? I don't think CIBC even has prepaid Mastercards... I do approve of their DEBIT VISA though.
There are corporate gift card providers, ScotiaBank has one, but I doubt they're the only provider.
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