Prepaid Cards: Useful Gift for Students Studying Overseas and Peace of Mind For Parents

It’s not always easy to come up with the right thing to give your college student as they head off to school. This can be especially true if the student is heading off to study overseas. All of the concerns double when a student is studying abroad because of the distance and the lack of ease in providing assistance should an emergency arise. Of course, the students themselves are worried about having the right clothes, the best laptop or computer, the best MP3 player and all of the right gadgets that will show their friends they are uptodate.

There almost always comes a time when the student has to ask mom and dad for more money, and this can be particularly true when the student is traveling through other countries and exploring other cultures. In times past this was done by wire transfer or depositing money into the child’s bank account. The problem with that is there is a lack of security and it is challenging to track what the student is spending. How can you easily get money to the student when it’s needed? More importantly, how can you get the money in the currency of the country where they are?

While some parents might be inclined to give their child their first credit card, that carries certain risks. Many parents have handed over a credit card and told their student to use it “only in case of emergencies” and then witnessed it being used to buy clothes, gadgets or pizza. If the card is in the student’s name, this can damage their credit rating. When the card is being used in another country the fees that get added onto transactions can be steep.

These days, there are options that provide more security and less risk of damaging credit ratings. One of these is the check card which normally comes with a checking account. These are generally branded with a major credit card logo and can be used like a credit card or to withdraw money from ATMs. Now, there are even travel cards that can access foreign currency such as the British Pound or the Euro.

The risk with a check card is that it could be lost or stolen. There are also countless scams that can steal a check card’s information and allow criminals to withdraw money from an unknowing victim. Those same criminals could also find themselves with access to further personal information that would allow them to steal someone’s identity. Finally, when the student is overseas, there are fees involved in getting the money dispensed from a U.S. bank account in the local currency like the British pound or the Euro.

Prepaid cards can assist with this concern through the use of a prepaid foreign currency card which can be loaded with money in the local currency and used just like a credit card or at ATMs worldwide. The key difference, however, is that these cards are not linked to a bank account so there is no number to steal.

These cards come with protections such as a PIN and can be loaded and reloaded from a remote location, as long as the parents have access to a computer, providing additional funds as needed in case of emergencies. They also provide online account access that allow parents to track spending and help the student budget accordingly. This approach greatly reduces overspending.

So, when students are heading across oceans to go to school, preoccupied with clothing, packing, books and classes, one thing that can be given to them to help ease their minds and the minds of their parent is a prepaid foreign currency card. It offers security and access to funds in an easytocarry package. It’s a simple thing, potentially overlooked when there is so much going on, but it can go a long way toward easing worried minds when the need for money arises.

Tracy Hammock is the Senior VicePresident, Head of North American Outsourcing

Travelex Currency Services, Inc.