Reload Cards with Free Bill Pay

Signing up for credit cards can be a great way to earn points, miles, and cash back.  However, meeting the minimum spend requirements for those offers can be tough.  One way to increase credit card spend is to use prepaid reloadable cards that offer bill pay services, as follows:

  1. Use a credit card to buy Visa or MasterCard debit gift cards (find best options here)
  2. Use those gift cards as debit cards, in-store, to reload a prepaid reloadable card.
    Note: many stores accept cash only for reloads. The trick is finding the local store that allows loads to be paid by debit card.
  3. Use the prepaid card’s bill pay feature to pay bills that can’t usually be paid by credit card: mortgage, rent, or even your credit card bill.

For advice regarding using these cards to increase credit card spend, please see: Best practices for prepaid card manufactured spend.

The following table lists prepaid reloadable cards that offer free bill pay services.  Unless otherwise noted, stores typically charge $3.95 or $4.95 for each reload.

Issuer Card Monthly Fee * Free in-store reload option? Reload Network
Amex Bluebird Free Walmart Walmart only
Amex One VIP Serve $1 Waivable Yes Vanilla Network, REloadit
Amex Serve (Blue) $1 Waivable No Vanilla Network, REloadit
Amex Serve FREE Reloads (Green) $4.95 Yes Vanilla Network, REloadit
Amex Serve Cash Back $5.95 No Vanilla Network, REloadit
Bancorp Chime Free No ? (documentation mentions “cash load partners”)
Bancorp Kaiku $3 Waivable No Visa ReadyLink
Bancorp T-Mobile Visa Prepaid $5 Waivable No REloadit, Visa ReadyLink
Green Dot GoBank $8.95 Waivable Walmart Greendot
Green Dot Green Dot Prepaid $5.95 Waivable No Greendot
Green Dot Walmart MoneyCard** $3 No Walmart, Green Dot
MetaBank AccountNow Gold $9.95 No Greendot, REloadit, Western Union, Visa ReadyLink, Moneygram
MetaBank AccountNow Classic Free No Greendot, REloadit, Western Union, Visa ReadyLink, Moneygram
MetaBank RushCard Unlimited Plan $5.95-$7.95 No Greendot, Western Union, Moneygram
MetaBank RushCard Pay as You Go Free No Greendot, Western Union, Moneygram
MetaBank PayPower $5.95 No Visa ReadyLink, REloadit

* Waivable: Many prepaid cards waive monthly fees when you have a set amount of money deposited to the account each month.  Please see each card’s cardmember agreement for details.

** Walmart MoneyCard: Several versions of the MoneyCard are available in-store, including one with free reloads at Walmart.

Reload Network Links

Follow these links to find stores in your area that support each reload network.  Not all stores will accept debit card payments for reloads — many are cash-only.

Prepaid cards that offer bill pay for a fee

  • H&R Block Emerald Prepaid Mastercard
  • Netspend (Related cards: PayPal Prepaid, Brink’s, Pink NetSpend, BlueNetSpend)

Prepaid cards that do not offer bill pay

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