In today’s time, gifting something to someone is just like a task to do. One can take around a lot of time to make a decision for a personalized gift for a person, but after all these efforts, it is still not confirmed whether the person for whom you have selected that gift will like it or not. When you are willing to buy a gift for someone, you need to keep in mind several factors like what are the likings of other people, what is the purpose of gifting, what will make the person much more happier. However, it makes sense if you gift the person a gift card or a prepaid card, which is easy to use, and you can also easily check your prepaid gift balance.



What are Prepaid and Gift cards?

Both the prepaid, as well as gift cards, are just a plastic card that is preloaded with a certain amount of money in it. Both these cards are just like your debit or credit card. The main purpose that these cards are used is for gifting purposes. These cards are a safe and secure way of gifting, as both these cards require to go through a process before getting ready to make payments.

Gift Card

Is it hard for you to find the perfect gift for someone? Do you also feel uncomfortable while gifting cash to your host? Well, then the best option that pops out is gifting a gift card. As told above, a gift card is a plastic card just as your debit or credit card, which is preloaded with some amount of money in it, and you can use that amount for a certain time period. However, if you have one of the gift cards that are available in the market, then you must have noticed that these cards are of no use once you have exhausted the money in it. This is because you can only load money in a gift card once, which means that if you have got a gift card of $100, you will not be able to fill it again once you have used it all. This makes the Gift Card a single-use card that is just a piece of plastic once exhausted.

Gift cards come with a certain expiry date, which is also really very shorter than other cards; this makes the user use the amount in gift cards faster. Using a gift card faster is important as if you will not use it in time, and the date of expiry is surpassed, then my friend, you are done with this card as the amount in the card is finished. You can check the prepaid gift balance of your card on certain gifting websites, and the expiry dates are generally mentioned on the card itself.

The most famous type of gift card is a Loop card that is generally purchased by many of the people. This type of card is purchased for certain merchandise or for only some retailers. The card doesn’t work anywhere else other than that.

When you go in history, you will find only some particular brands earlier meant that gift cards only for promotional purposes. But, today, many companies are making Gift cards as a part of their business. Many famous companies, such as American Express, Visa, Master Card, and more Discover, make gift cards. However, many people get confused between the gift card and prepaid card, but they have some differences.

Prepaid Card

Prepaid card is just like your ATM debit card; it is issued by many financial institutes and can be used at retail stores, online purchases, or also to withdraw cash from your ATM. What makes it different from your ATM Debit card is that your debit card withdraws the money from your bank account, and you need to refill the money in your prepaid card. You can check your prepaid gift balance on multiple sites that offer you to use your card. Prepaid cards are easy to use as they can be easily reloaded once you have exhausted the amount; you can also use it to withdraw cash from your ATM and also top pay bills from it.

Just like your credit card, your prepaid card also have a pin and expiry date printed on the front or back of the card. Just like your credit card has a limit the same as why your prepaid card also has a limit, which equals the amount of money that is preloaded in your prepaid card, you can check prepaid gift balance on multiple sites where you are shopping with your prepaid card.

Your prepaid card never turns out as a simple piece of plastic; this is because even if you have exhausted the money from your card, you can still use it again when you reload the money in your card. However, the card can be used multiple times; what needs your concentration is that the card may charge you some nominal amount as a fee for using it.

Do not confuse yourself with the prepaid card and prepaid credit card; these are two different concepts. For a prepaid credit card, you will require some permissions and paper works to do. What makes a significant difference between both is that prepaid credit cards will require the approval of a security deposit or maybe something or the other as a collateral deposit.

Prepaid cards and gift cards are somewhat similar, but a what is a difference is that generally gift card is gifted to you from anyone else, and on the other side you can apply for a prepaid card if required. However, both the gift and prepaid cards are of utmost use, and a user can keep an eye on its prepaid gift balance when using it at some payment or on the sites.

Finally, it is clear that gift or prepaid both have their own significance and can be used on different occasions. The only drawback that a gift card includes is that they have a shorter expiry date, which makes it crucial to use it as soon as possible.